Beacon of Hope
by Marine Brother Shran
Summary: It's been well over a year since 3rd Impact, and everything is back to normal...until SEELE comes back with revenge. Can the 4 originals, plus 4 others stop SEELE? Part I of IV, SxR, AxACC, TxH, some OOC
1. Prologue

**Inescapable Grasp of Eva, Gathering of the Children**

**Prologue**

**It has been well over a year since 3rd Impact, Shinji and Rei are 16, while Asuka and Toji are 15. The three 'primary' children live together with their guardian, Misato Katsuragi. However, like all good things, this peace and distance from the Evangelions wasn't meant to last. SEELE has somehow returned, and all 4 old men want vengeance, and do it by means necessary. The four of them, along with 4 new pilots, will pilot the Evangelions, as they fight against SEELE, who will stop at nothing, to destroy Tokyo-3.**

"How disgusting," mutters the dull and exhausted Asuka Soryu. She laid there on the beach of the new world, as she started at the boy straddling with his hands around her neck, and listened to him mutter incoherent things to himself in disgust. She knew he was spineless, but for her, it was too much to see him in such a deranged state, cowering in his mind. She couldn't stand to see Shinji in such a state, and she hated it with a passion.

"Hey baka, get the hell off," she growls out. Shinji snaps his head up, as their eyes met. Asuka mentally gasps in shock at the sight of the boy's face. His eyes seemed rather distant, dull, hollow, devoid, and in some ways dead. His once bright cobalt blue eyes were now dark, almost black. His face bore no expression. It was blank, pale, gaunt, and almost sunken-like. It looked like he had been denied food and sunshine for sometime. Shinji seemed like a soulless shell, in which the body lingers until it meets its own doom.

'What the hell happened to him?' she mentally asks herself, in an almost careless manner.

'Why am I here? What is this place? Why is the world like this? I…I thought that the world would be back to normal…where's everyone? Where's Misato, Rei, Kaji, where are all my friends? Asuka…why just her…why just the two of us…'

_Shinji…_

He immediately snaps out of his train of thought as he brings his head up. He begins to look around, moving in fast, panic-like movements, frantically looking about as he searches for the source of the voice.

_Shinji…_

He looks down to see Asuka staring back at him indifferently. Realising that it wasn't her, he tries to calm down as he closes his eyes, listening for the next time the voice called for him.

_Shinji…_

He gasps as he turns back to see Rei's split head glowing.

"Ayanami?" he breathes out in awe. In an instant, after Shinji whispers her name, it begins to pulse, as a definite and steady thumping resonates throughout the air. As it pulses, the two pieces of the head begin to rise into the air, as they slowly drift closer to one another.

Shinji slowly gets up, his face transfixed upon the sight before him, and walks to the edge of the beach. As he continues to watch, he was no longer aware of the world around him. In his mind, there was currently only him, and the floating head of the one he once knew was Rei Ayanami. As the two halves met, the points of contact glowed, as they began to bask Shinji's world in a glorious and fulfilling light. As he reviles in the warmth that light brought him, Shinji sees the silhouette of two people his height, and a child. As they get closer, he begins to make out their form. Two of them had the unmistakable subtle curves only seen on females as they undergo the slow transformation of blooming into the beautiful flower known as womanhood. Between the two was someone who reaches only their knees, and seemed of one who was of no more than 4 years of age. He wonders who they are. As their forms began to be distinguished, Shinji felt a tug in his heart, as he suddenly comes face to face, with not one, but three, Rei Ayanami. Before him, stood the three Rei Ayanami, all the same person, yet different in their own ways.

One was of 4 years old, wearing a pink dress, with the face of innocence. She was one who was not sullied by the touch of the Evangelion, of Gendo, of life. She seemed to be of one who never had the chance to live out life. To her left, stood the Rei Ayanami he knew of. There she stood, clad in her school uniform, her right arm was bandaged, and in a sling, as well as her left eye was bandaged. Her face was stoic, almost emotionless, as she seemed to be when they first met. To the right of the little girl stood a naked Rei Ayanami, but unlike the others, who showed signs of life, she bore the face of the lifeless, of the unborn. She, in face and in body, was of one devoid of substance, of life, of emotions, of people, of her soul. She was the one he feared, and the one who brought upon him his damnation. The damnation he awoke into when he ended 3rd Impact.

"Ayanami?" Shinji quietly whispers.

"Hai, Ikari-kun," they quietly replies simultaneously, their voices harmonizing as they resonate in his ears, as the subtle and gently sounds of the harp, "We are Rei Ayanami, and yet two of us are not."

"What to you mean?"

"Our souls are intertwined by Lilith, yet our bodies differ, Ikari-kun. All of us are facsimiles of the woman Yui Ikari, Rei Ayanami, and Lillith. However, after this moment, two shall cease to exists, while the other carries the name, Rei Ayanami, until her death."

"I still don't fully understand," he replies, as he slowly approaches the three.

"We, Rei Ayanami, our soul shall become unique, as our memories shall exist as one. Two shall be discarded, for the sole purpose of allowing Rei Ayanami to exist. There can only be one, Rei Ayanami, or the cycle of replacement shall begin again. We shall destroy the doll known as Rei Ayanami, Pilot of Unit 00, follower of Gendo Ikari, carrier of Lilith. And in her destruction, rises Rei Ayanami, Pilot of Unit 00, First Child, daughter of Matoko and Tomoyo Ayanami. Her soul shall be born after this moment."

"You mean that…"

"No, I shall not exist," replied the 4 year old, her voice, dominating the other two despite all three speaking as one.

"Then…how will you live?"

"We shall discard the child, and the 3rd, and stripe the 2nd of Lillith, and Yui Ikari. She shall be free of her chains as mother of the Angels, and reminder of Gendo Ikari. She shall become Rei Ayanami."

"Does that mean that she'll be normal?" Shinji asks hopefully.

"We do not understand your question, Ikari-kun."

"Well," he pauses as he struggles to find the words, "Will you be able to feel emotions? Will you be able to understand humans? Would you be able to express yourself?"

The three pauses for a moment, as they ponder upon the questions now lay before them, "We shall be restored of our humanity, however, she will not understand them. She shall be restored her feelings, her emotions, but she shall require time, to learn, to understand, and to express them herself. When she awakens, she shall be as she was before the 16th, but she shall remember all, and will be unique. No longer will she be a vessel for Lilith's soul, as her soul will be her own."

"What to you mean by, remember all?"

"She shall gain our memories. She shall remember her two deaths, her actions that initiated 3rd Impact, her interactions with the others, and her teachings of Gendo. We shall be as we were when the 2nd existed. We are not capable of destroy the bonds developed by Gendo Ikari. You must assist in destroying such bonds, in order for her to develop. Do you understand, Ikari-kun?"

"Yeah, I think I understand."

All three nods, as the injured Rei Ayanami stands before them, "We're home," she whispers. All three begin to glow brightly, forcing Shinji to shield his eyes. He looks through his fingers, to see two additional people standing on either side of the 2nd. To her left stood the woman Shinji knew was his mother, and to the 2nd's left stood a woman with blue hair down to her waist, and red eyes and a red orb below her breasts. Although not to familiar with the 2nd Angel, he concluded it was the one called Lillith. Moments later, the two beings disappeared, as the bright light dimmed.

Shinji puts his arms down to see before him, the 2nd, striped of her clothes and bandages, and 3rd, fair skinned, and their once gaunt; malnutrition bodies were replaced by a slender, graceful body, no longer showing signs of bones that threatened to break by the simplest of breezes. No more was she the porcelain doll she appeared to be, as the 2nd turned around to reveal that broad smile she showed him after their battle of the fifth.

"I have returned, Ikari-kun," the 2nd quietly whispers before turning around, and hold her arms out wide. The other two nod and close their eyes, only to glow an ethereal white, as they soon became translucent images of their former selves. They walk up to Rei, and step into her as they merge their souls with her. Rei suddenly cringes in pain as she drops to her knee's and hugs herself, as she feels the pain of three separate memories, blending into one, unified mind, as the experiences become one. She struggled as she tried to sort the images, the feelings of the three as her soul began to transform, from three separate beings, into on unified soul.

The pain soon subsides, as Rei collapses from exhaustion. Shinji rushes up to her, and holds her in his arms, as he supports her neck and shoulders as he did when her first met her. He checks her to see her simply sleeping. He smiles as he looks at the sleeping girl in his arms. To think, only a few weeks ago, he wouldn't dare talk to her for finding out what Rei really was. But now, she was human, and no longer genetically related to her, nor was her soul of the angel Lilith. She was her own person, just as her soul was her own. He found it funny how now he was allowing himself to even look at her, despite that her two previous bodies contained his mother's DNA, and that she was naked.

"What the hell is Wonder Girl doing in your arms?" Asuka's voice suddenly cried out, cutting him off from his train of thought as he gasps and looks around to find himself once again on the beach, ahead of him the sea of red, the night sky above him, and the crater that one contained half of Rei's head. He spins around to see Asuka standing there, her face with a bit more colour, her weight on her right leg as she rested her hand on her hip. He looks down to see Rei was still in his arms, soundly asleep.

"Well, answer me," Asuka demanded, getting impatient, and annoyed at the fact Rei was drawing all of his attention.

"I don't really know," he calmly replies, "Last thing I remember was watching Ayanami's head fuse, then it glowed brightly. Next thing I knew, I saw three Ayanami's they formed into one, and I picked her up, and then you suddenly asked me what she was doing in my arms." Although he did cover what had happened, he kept all details, even the general detail to himself, as he wished to keep that memory to himself.

"What…" she replies, in a somewhat dazed manner, "But…you were only…HOW THE HELL DOES THAT WORK? WE WERE BATHED IN THAT LIGHT ONLY FOR A MOMENT BEFORE I OPENED MY EYES TO SEE WONDER GIRL IN YOUR ARMS!" she screamed out in confusion.

"Asuka," he hisses, as he steps back a few steps, nearly tripping as he does, "Keep it down," he quietly hisses, "You'll wake her up."

"Ugh." Both pilots suddenly gasp in silence as they heard someone moaning. They both look at Rei's sleeping form, only to see her still soundlessly sleeping, her chest gently and rhythmically rising up and down, as she breathed. They hear the moan again, only to look down to the ground to see something moving. Both pilots panic, and tried to move, but fear kept their feet anchored to the sand underneath them as they watched the person rise from the sand.

"Ah…my head," the person says as she forces herself out of the sand, and supports herself on her knees, and one hand as she rubs the back of her head with the other. Both pilots gulp as they looked at the person again, to realising that it was Misato, the long mop of purple giving it all away.

"You baka," Asuka viciously states, "You stepped on Misato's head!"

"How was I supposed to know she was there," he hissed out, as he tried to keep his voice down, "She was buried under the sand."

"Shinji, what's Rei doing in your arms and…why the hell is she naked?" Shinji looks down to see Misato was looking at him curiously, as she tried to clean out some sand from her hair. He then looks down to realise that Rei was indeed naked, as he starts to blush a deep crimson, only now fully acknowledging the face she was there, sleeping in his arms, and completely naked.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-" Shinji incoherently stutters as he tries to come up with an excuse of why she was in such a state.

"Apparently, the baka had the 1st Child dumped into his arms when Wonder Girl's head recombined and glowed," Asuka nonchalantly states.

"I see," Misato states slowly, slowly turning her head towards Shinji again, a mischievous grin appearing on her face, "Were you planning to get some alone time with her when she wakes up?"

"What?" Shinji screams out uncontrollably, completely taken aback from the comment.

"Pfft," Asuka scoffs, "That pervert would probably do it too if I had a chance."

Shinji opens his mouth when a soft voice interrupts him, "Ikari-kun?" Shinji looks down to see that Rei had woken up, and seemed to be extremely dazed as she was looking about as she tried to orient herself.

"Ayanami," he calls out, "You alright?"

"I am well, Ikari-kun," she calmly replies, as she reorients herself, "Will you put me down?" Shinji compliantly lets her down, and turns around, blushing madly, as the last thing he saw as he lowered her had just happened to be her folds.

"Ikari-kun, are you well?" Rei asks him, with mild curiosity.

"I-I-I-I'm fine, Ayanami-san," Shinji weakly replies, then trying to change the subject, "Do you remember what happened?"

"Hai, I remember the fusion, my role in 3rd Impact, everything," she turns to face Asuka, "Are you well Pilot Soryu? I last recall you were declared comatose."

"I'm fine for your information, Wonder Girl," Asuka growls out, as she crosses her arms.

"Uh Rei," Misato calls out as she takes of her jacket.

"Yes, Colonel?"

"Here," giving Rei her jacket, "You put this on. It'll at least cover your top."

Rei takes the jacket, yet frowns, "Why do I require wearing this jacket? This is my natural body."

"Rei, simply put, there is a little something called modesty," Misato replies, as she wipes her hands across her face, "Just put it on please. We don't want people seeing you topless."

"Very well," she quietly replies. She quickly puts the jacket on and zips it up. Soon after, they hear the familiar whirring of a helicopter. They look to the horizon, to see a squadron of helicopters, and VTOL's approaching them fast.

"What the hell?" Misato states, "Those are…" and then it dawned upon her, "Those must be from the US Branch that was lost during Unit 04's testing. This is great. Help's on the way."

"Finally," Asuka groans out, "I need a change of clothes, and to see what the hell the Eva series did to me. I mean, just look at the fact I woke up, outside of my Eva, in bandages!"

"Hmm…that is strange," Misato comments.

"Misato-san, can we worry about how later? Let's just worry about getting their attention," Shinji states.

"Good idea," she then starts to wave her arms, yelling at the top of her lungs, "HEY! OVER HERE! WE'RE DOWN HERE!"

"Misato, what point is that? It's not like they'll hear you," Asuka blatantly comments, as she watches Misato wave her arms like a raving lunatic.

"Hey, the yelling might not get their attention, but the waving will. Plus I just wanna yell. It makes me feel better."

"Whatever you say," Asuka replies as she starts waving her arms as well.

"_Sir, down there on the beach, I think I see some survivors,_" the co-pilot calls out.

"_I see them,_" the pilot replies, "_Alright, let's head down there and get them the hell outta here._"

"Hey, I think they see us," Shinji points out as one of the helicopters begins to descend towards them.

"Hey, you're right for once baka," Asuka comments as she watches the helicopter descend.

"Well, not a bad way to start the day after 3rd Impact eh guys?" Misato asks. All three merely nodded in agreement, as they watched the relief force fly over the remnants of Tokyo-3. This was the beginning of a new day. The angels are finally destroyed, SEELE is no more, the Eva series were either destroyed or no longer needed. This was the beginning of the rest of their lives.

**Well, I hope that you enjoyed my prologue; I'll be submitting Chapter I soon. I hope that this sets the mood, or at least gives you an idea of what happened before my story started in the original version. Don't forget, I plan to make this a 4 part story. Well anyways, that's all from me.**

**Cheers Ja ne**


	2. Return of Eva

**Inescapable Grasp of Eva**

**Chapter I Return of Eva**

**It has been well over a year since 3rd Impact, Shinji and Rei are 16, while Asuka and Toji are 15. The three 'primary' children live together with their guardian, Misato Katsuragi. However, like all good things, this peace and distance from the Evangelions wasn't meant to last. SEELE has somehow returned, and all 4 old men want vengeance, and do it by means necessary. The four of them, along with 4 new pilots, will pilot the Evangelions, as they fight against SEELE, who will stop at nothing, to destroy Tokyo-3.**

**I hoped that you guys enjoyed the Prologue, and will enjoy the first chapter just as much. To those who've read the original, you will notice that I open up exactly the same way as before, but that's where the similarities end. Enjoy, and I'm looking forward to your reviews.**

"What is the status of the Eva Units?" a voice asked.

"Unit 01 has been recovered from space along with Lance of Longinus, Unit 02 has been repaired, Units 00, and 03 have been reconstructed, Unit 04 reappeared after Third Impact ended and Canada is prepping Unit 05 for transport, same thing with Russia for Unit 06 and China for Unit 07. All of them have been outfitted with the S2 Engine as well. NERV Eva Units 08-13 are still being constructed; I predict they will be done in two years or so, except for Unit's 08 and 09, which will probably be during the Spring Time. Also Children's 5 through 8 will arrive here with their Eva's; Unit 05 will be arriving in two weeks." Another voice replied.

"Very good, we need to prepare for battle. Although Third Impact ended differently from the original intent, I don't plan to have Forth Impact instigated anytime soon. However the old men will think differently. SEELE is not happy. I want the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Child to be reinstated. Make sure the good Sub-Commander gets the message," the first voice stated.

"Yes sir," the second person replied before leaving the room.

"You will not have your way. I will not allow you to destroy this world for your own twisted games. Not again."

It has now been well over a year when 3rd Impact occurred. Since then, things have been either awkward, or tedious. Billions of dollars/yens/euros/francs, etc. in damage from 3rd Impact, had left the world in a state of 'depression', so to speak. Tokyo-3, and NERV had only recently been restored, but the time in between had not been that much fun.

Asuka for one had almost lost her right arm, if it were not for the medical knowledge of Ritsuko, who had returned a while after the four. She used her knowledge of regeneration and genetic manipulation, to fully heal Asuka's eye, arm, and restore her original sapphire blue from the dull brown she awoke with. Ritsuko also did a careful inspection of Rei to discover that she was pure human now, and that her red eyes and blue hair were now natural for her. She also confirmed that Shinji and Rei were in no way related now considering what has happened to her.

During the first half of the year, although all three were physically sound, their mental capacities were of another story. Although on the outside, Shinji showed that he was fine, he still had some problems underneath. This was exceptionally obvious whenever he interacted with people, as he always remained distant, and only spoke when spoken to, which led Misato to the decision to have him undergo therapy for a while, to help him go through some of his problems. Asuka was a different case. She was simply too arrogant, even for her own good. She had maintained her prideful wall, and pushed away any help people were offering her. After Ritsuko had healed her, she had more or less returned to her normal state, if not worse. Misato, along with Ritsuko and Shinji, finally forced her into therapy sessions as well. The end results of these sessions were rather surprising.

Shinji for one although was secluded in a manner of speaking, was more willing to converse with people. But that was by far from a complete change, as he still wouldn't open up that much, but he was willing to try to at least talk to people. He also helped around the medical facility where they were staying, by carrying around items, helping out doctors and such, to keep help keep his mind off the pain in his head, as well as prevent him if possible to stop his self loathing attitude, which was badly affecting him prior to 3rd Impact. Doctors found that when he was abandoned at such a young age, his mind came to the conclusion that he was worthless, a piece of trash, something not worth caring for, which resulted in his self-loathing, low self-esteemed attitude, which ended up destabilizing his mind. However, nowadays, he was more open, easier to socialize, and for Misato, a challenge to make fun of now.

Asuka on the other hand was a whole other case. She had erected her walls to close off her heart from love, but was more open to others. She was simply not willing to let other people's help, because to her, accepting help unless extremely needed was a sign of weakness, a sign of opening one's heart. Her doctor had trouble, as she was not willing to discuss her past beyond her college days. One could say that she was a basket case. For some time, she was an extremely dense brick wall that would just not yield. But slowly but surely, brick by brick, the doctors began to bring down her wall as they wormed their way through Asuka's past. She still had a long way to go, but as of late, she has come to terms with some of her demons, yet there were others that still haunted her badly. Despite this, there were some positive results that even Asuka had to admit. She was less often haunted by the memories of her mother in her dreams for one, she was more open to help, but to a limited basis, and she was actually nice to Shinji and Rei, to a certain degree. All in all, she was recovering.

Rei during this 6 month or so period was yet another different case. She had the problem of not knowing how to socialize with people, to express or understand emotions, to be able to think for herself, and whenever she talked with someone…it was either a rather dry conversation or she waited for the person to bring up a topic. She was a really tough case, and sadly every doctor that has tried to help her, at one point or another lost their patience. At one point, even she doubted that she would be able to emulate human behavior like she had planned to. But there was one who did stick with her, regardless of her personality, or lack thereof. Shinji, in between his therapy sessions and volunteer work, would spend time with her, helping her with her humanity. From him alone, she learned how to differentiate between emotions, how to express them, although that particular lesson with difficultly as Shinji mostly expressed depression or sadness, and how to make conversation, based on his lessons.

Although all three children had struggled to become more than they were before 3rd Impact, all of them advanced in their own ways. All of them were a step closer to become 'normal' in the eyes of the general public, yet none of them could ever again consider themselves normal. They have seen and experienced far too much to ever truly escape the pain that Project E had brought them. All they could do now was simply face the pain in the eye, and deal with it. That was their only real option, but it was better than cowering before the pain and trying to hide it in their own ways.

During the other half of the year, it was spent mostly going through the wreckage of their old homes and pulling out whatever survived. Rei had no items of importance, save her school uniforms, which she discarded, as they no longer fit her. Shinji managed to find his SDAT player, miraculously in working condition save the batteries, and incredibly enough, his cello. How either survived, no one dared question in fear of jinxing the objects. Asuka found a few articles of clothing that still fit her, and also gave some to Rei, which incidentally fit her as well. It was later discovered that Asuka and Rei were the same size in every respect, save for a minor height difference in which Asuka was about an inch taller. During this time as well, on two particular dates, March 30th, and June 6th, were Rei's and Shinji's birthdays. Rei's was oddly enough celebrated the same day as the day they moved in, and Shinji's birthday was celebrated like any normal birthday.

During this period, Shinji and Asuka continued to go to therapy sessions, each of them more open to their doctors, and to the rest of the world. Rei was becoming more human by the day, and now she can freely express her emotions, converse with people, sometimes initiating ones herself, and she has learned not to use her emotionless facial expression. However, she still practices it whenever she goes out in public to places where she does not feel comfortable. Although capable of defending herself to a certain extent, she prefers to use her emotionless mask whenever she goes near her old home area or areas where crime rates were higher than the norm. Oddly enough it has proven to be useful in terms of diverting the interest of lesser criminals.

Also during the latter half of the year, people have begun to move back in. Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari were the first to move in, and had helped their friends out in moving, and celebrating Rei's birthday. Initially when they met the new Rei, they were somewhat skeptical, but with a little time, and some long conversations, they accepted the new Rei and treated her like any other person, Hikari being the first to open up. The boy's relation to Asuka remains brittle as ever as they still get their asses handed to them every now and then, and they as of late had discovered a new found respect of their friend, as they saw that he was harder to embarrass, and stuck up for himself more now. Pen-pen for one was glad to be back in the arms of his family, plus one more now, which he quickly grew fond of.

Their new home was built in the same lot as before, except that their room was much bigger, in terms of the living room, but everything else was still cramped. Asuka's room was the only real spacious one, and seemed to be able to contain three or four people in total. Shinji's room was a bit bigger, enough room for a roommate to sleep in without invading each other's personal space and cozy enough if a couple were to sleep in the room. Pen-pen's 'room' was rebuilt, as the original one was more or less destroyed during 3rd Impact, and Misato once again refilled her stock of beer, which to this day still highly exasperates Shinji and Asuka.

**(A/N: I don't believe there was a set date, or time of year 3rd Impact happened, to therefore I'm going to make up my own date of the event)**

It has now been a year since 3rd Impact, and everything was going as usual in the Katsuragi residence. Shinji would be the first to wake, take a shower, and then cook breakfast. Soon after him would be Rei and Asuka, as they will be awakened by the alluring smell of breakfast, come out and join him as he sets the table, and together the three ex-pilots would enjoy breakfast. Misato would come out after they've all finished eating, having a killer hangover, grab her beer, chug it all down, and let out her usual whoop before tossing it off somewhere, grabbing another can and her plate of breakfast, plop down on in her chair at the dinning table in the kitchen, and eat. Meanwhile, the three would pack their things, and head off to school, leaving Misato behind with Pen-pen before she too leaves to go to work in NERV in her new position as the Sub-Commander. It has yet to have a Commander, but for some reason, that position was closed until further notice

Since it was July, no school was in progress, therefore this particular morning Shinji was on the balcony, practicing his cello, Asuka was sleeping in, despite the alluring smell of food that morning, Misato had left early, and Rei had just finished washing the dishes when she heard Shinji starting to play Kanon D-dur **(Cannon in D minor I believe)**. Fascinated by the alluring sounds of the stringed instrument, she heads to the balcony, and watches Shinji as he plays his cello. She carefully walks onto the balcony, intent on watching him, yet not disturbing him, she moves herself to a corner, where she can get a good side view of his profile, yet remains out of his range of notice.

As she watches him play, she observes the movement of his hands, the way the bow moves across the string, the way his left hand moves along the neck as he plays out the appropriate notes. She also sees the joy on his face as he pours his heart into the song. Truly something to behold, as Rei rarely sees Shinji so content, so calm, that it greatly intrigues her. She sits down, and wraps her arms around her thighs as she brings her knees closer to her, resting her chin on them and closed her eyes as she continues to enjoy Shinji's music. She sighs contently as the Shinji continues to play. Soon after, he finishes playing, and opens his eyes to see Rei in the corner of his eye.

He looks to her and asks, "You liked what you heard?"

Rei opened her eyes and nods, "Hai, Shinji-kun. It was most enjoyable."

"I'm glad you liked it," he replied, sighing heavily all of a sudden, "Considering that I'm not that good."

"That is not true, you are quite skilled."

"Well compared to most people, I'm just your average player," he darkly responds, before playing his cello again. Rei takes a moment to listen to the song to recognize the song as the cello part in the instrumental version of Thanatos, a rather depressing song to say the least. But nonetheless, it was music, and she closes her eyes again as she listens to him play the tune, even if it was played in such a negative manner.

A few hours later, Asuka had finally woken up and the children were having lunch when the emergency alarm went off. All three of them froze, dropping their foods and/or cutleries from shock. They knew that it was the Angel Alarm. They have heard it so often that it was so familiar to them, and it scared them. All the memories of battles against the Angels began to flow back in. All the pain, all the suffering, all the sadness and destruction that came from the battles against the Angels flooded back into their minds as they began to shiver, as the memories came back in full force.

"Why…why are they back?" Shinji weakly asks.

"I do not know…" Rei quietly replies. Suddenly the phone starts to ring.

Being the closest, Asuka slowly approaches the phone and answers, "H-hello?"

"Asuka, it's me, Misato! Get the other two ready to go and head downstairs. I'm picking you guys up!"

"Misato, what's going on? Why the hell are the Angels back?" Asuka yells into the phone.

"I don't know why, and it's not the Angels, we're just using the alarm. Trust me, there are no Angels. Now get ready to go." And with that Misato hung up the phone.

Feeling a bit better at the fact it's not the Angels, Asuka puts the phone down and turns to her roommates, "Good news, no Angels, so get your shoes on, we're heading out!"

"But…if that's the case…what's happening?" Shinji asked as he gets up.

Asuka just shrugs her shoulders, "I don't really know I just know that Misato is picking us up. And she sounded urgent, so let's get going before she has a fit!" The other two simply nod as they quickly grab their shoes from the rack, put them on and headed out the door. When they reached the button floor, Misato had just stopped right in front of the building. The three of them quickly ran up to Misato's car and clamoured in, Asuka taking shot gun naturally, Shinji and Rei in the back. Misato quickly shifted gears, and started to drive her infamous speeds and style of driving as they tore through Tokyo-3 trying to find the nearest route to NERV.

As they drove, Rei spoke, "Misato-san, what is the nature of the emergency?"

Misato took a deep breath before responding, "There's no easy way to say this but…" her voice trails off for a moment before she found the courage to speak, "You guys need to pilot the Eva's again." Already she knew this was affecting them negatively, just from seeing the colour from Asuka's face drained was enough. She knew her kids had suffered horrendously and to ask them to pilot was wrong and immoral, but sadly that was the only choice they had in the situation they were in.

Misato opens her mouth to speak when Shinji beats her to it, "Why? Why the hell do we have to pilot those things? I thought we were through with them after 3rd Impact. Why weren't the last of the Eva's destroyed?"

"Look Shinji, I'm sorry it has come to this, but let me explain the situation at first. We are-"

"What's there to explain?" he interjected, "Eva has brought us nothing but pain! I thought you understood! I thought you knew of the pain that we were going through!"

"SHINJI!" Misato bellowed, as he instantly fell back into his seat.

Misato lets out a sigh, "I'm sorry, that was harsh on my end. But the thing is, the SEELE Eva's are about to attack. They've already destroyed a few buildings, but it looks like they are intent on taking out NERV. We need you guys to take them out. Can you guys do that? Will you pilot Evangelion one more time to save NERV, and the city?"

"Misato I don't know about the others, but I'M ITCHING TO GET BACK IN THERE!" Asuka bellows. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Asuka was all fired up, her fists clenched tightly, her eyes displaying fury against the Eva's who had dared touch her Eva from before. Asuka still carried the long scar on her arm, and she often holds her arm, often not even realize it. Her eye on the other hand, never had a scar formed because of the surgery that was preformed to repair the damage. Since her arm healed, she on occasion rants on revenge against the MP Eva's of SEELE. Now, it seemed that her chance has come to do so. Shinji and Rei look at one another apprehensively for a moment before nodding towards the Sub-Commander.

"Thanks guys," she calmly spoke as she drove through the roads, "I know it's hard for you two to actually look at your Eva's, but think of it this way. You guys can at least see your mothers again." Shinji slightly smiled at this, however Rei maintained her stoic face and just stared straight ahead, keeping one hand on the door handle to maintain her balance as Misato stormed through the empty streets of Tokyo-3. Asuka continues to fume as she readies herself for battle. They soon reach the Geo-Front where the three quickly jump out of the vehicle and storm through the halls of NERV as they ran through the still familiar corridors to the change room. Upon entering, the proceed to their respective halves, Rei closing the curtain as she enters her half, and quickly disrobe themselves and for the first time since 3rd Impact, don on their plug suits. Upon exiting, they headed off towards the cages.

As they rode the elevator, Shinji had a thought, "Wait a moment…but if Unit 00 is destroyed and Unit 01 is in space, leaving Unit 02 as the only active one…who is going to pilot?"

"Oh no one is going to dare touch my Unit 02!" Asuka snaps out, turning to face Shinji who was standing behind the two girls.

"It is possible that either one of us shall co-pilot with you in Unit 02, Pilot Soryu," Rei calmly responded, re-donning her calm emotionless mask once more. Shinji simply nodded, while Asuka continued to fume as they waited for the elevator to reach the cages. As the doors opened, the two of them were greeted by a surprise. Before them, stood the proud, fully repaired forms of Evangelion Units 00, 01, 02, and 03, their armours pristine, as they stood there, waiting for their pilots. The three of them quickly proceeded towards their entry plug.

They quickly mounted their plugs, as the hatch quickly sealed in the pilots. After a moment of adjusting the harness, they soon felt the familiar jolt as they were being placed in the entry plugs. Soon after, the familiar spin as the Eva's accepted the entry plugs, followed by the rainbow of lights then the flooding of LCL. Even after all this time, Shinji could never get used to the fact the LCL was breathable, nor it's coppery smell. After a few moments of getting used to the smell, and breathing in the material, the entry plug started to glow even further colours before they saw the same familiar interface before them, displaying what the Eva saw, which in this case was the cages.

"It's been a long time," a voice calmly spoke, as three screens appeared, displaying Ritsuko's, Misato's, Asuka's, and Rei's faces.

"Same to you," Shinji replied.

"Likewise, Akagi-dono," Rei calmly replied.

"So how ya been doc?" Asuka greets.

"Not bad," she calmly replies, "I know you have questions about your Eva's," Ritsuko began, "But that will have to wait. I am going to quickly do a quickly run-through of the changes to your Eva's. You still possess a set of Prog. Knives, stored in the shoulder guards, you can still use every weapon at your disposal. The changes are, your entry plugs have been upgraded for verbal commands, but those subroutines have yet to be installed, as they require your voiceprint. Also, Unit's 00 and 02 have S2 engines installed, however the parts are still there."

"Clarify," Rei calmly requested.

"We are developing new weapons that will require the umbilical cables to charge them," Misato quickly answered, "But that's not important at the moment. You guys will also have a set of Progressive Swords to use against SEELE's mass-produced Eva's, courtesy of Canada."

"Is there anything else we require to know?" Rei quickly inquired.

"Nope," Misato replied, then turned to face Maya, "Lieutenant Ibuki, begin undocking sequence."

"Ryoukai," she quickly replied as she began to release all the gates, clamps, and restraints, as well as draining the liquid that surrounded them. Pretty soon, both Eva units were free from their restraints save for their arm and shoulder guards.

"Restraints have been released; awaiting for final launch orders," Maya called out.

Misato turns to face the screen that displayed Asuka who had just entered her entry plug, "Asuka, are you sure about this?"

"Duh," Asuka stated a bit louder than needed, "I am the best after all. Plus I have a score to settle with those bastards. I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM FOR RUNNING ME THROUGH THE EYE AND EATING MY EVA!"

Misato couldn't help but laugh, that Ritsuko continued, "Well since the Sub-Commander is in a manner of speaking incapacitated at the moment…load the Eva's onto the catapults, and have then exit in the middle of the city. Also, bring up 3 Progressive Swords."

"Ryoukai," Maya quickly responded. Inside the cages, the three Eva's began to diagonally rise up along the set rails that lead to their appropriate catapults. As they rose, the pilots were feeling extremely apprehensive. They weren't too keen on piloting these machines ever again, but now they had to, they tried to relax as they prepared for a very ugly battle. They quickly found out that there we nine, meaning that three to each, and even then it might prove to me unfavourable to each of them as they were used to fighting three against one powerful creature, instead of having to fight three at the same time by themselves. It was highly unsettling, as they felt the jolt of the catapult locking on, hearing the dull hisses from above as the appropriate silo doors opened.

"Ready guys?" Misato asks tentatively. All the pilots nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

"Evangelion Units 00 through 02, HASSHIN!" Instantly all three catapults engaged as the three primary weapons of NERV surfaced. As they rode the catapults, the pilots for the first time in a year, feel crushed under the powerful g-forces press them into their seats. Soon the movement came to an abrupt stop as the pilots felt a jolt upwards and a pain around their hips as they had bumped into the only thing that prevented them from flying up. Soon the final restraints were released as all three Eva's slouched for a moment before the pilots finally straightened themselves up, and looked above to see 9 white, identical warriors circling above them, all of them sporting black Lance of Longinus facsimiles.

"Pilots, to your left are your Progressive Swords," Ritsuko's voice coming through he radio, "You will notice that they are all different, as apparently they are made to certain specifications to each Eva." The three pilots looked down to their left to see swords had just risen from the ground, all of them sheathed.

Shinji's sword was a katana. Its sheath was the same shade of purple as his, along the sides, Evangelion Unit 01, was written in bold black ink. He drew his sword, and took a moment to observer it. Almost instantly, the blade began to glow as the vibro-blade came to life. Asuka's was broadsword, its hilt made of gold material, while its hand guard was of the same vibrant red as her armour. Soon after drawing the blade it too began to glow as it came to life. Rei's sword was a blade. Thin, not that wide, it was a single edged, straight blade; however it carried a grace and elegance that rather suited Rei's style. After drawing it, and let it burst to life, Rei did a few moves to test the blade.

Shinji during that moment couldn't help but look in awe are the gracefulness of Rei's moves as she swung the blade. However his thoughts were cut short when he heard someone yell into the comm. system. Shinji looked up to see that all 9 had dived down on them. All three pilots instinctively jumped out of the way, as the ground they stood before them exploded, as chunks of earth and shrapnel erupted violently. Instantly, the 9 white MP Eva's scattered as they broke off into groups of three, each group taking on an Eva.

Shinji brought up his katana at the ready, and not a moment too soon as one attempted a midsection slice at him. He reacted by inverting his arm, so that the blade tip pointed down and blocked. However the force of the attack sent Shinji careening as he skidded against the ground. He groaned as he brought his Eva up, instantly bringing the blade horizontally above his head as he stopped another one from cleaving him in two. He could barely see in his peripherals the other two charging him, their weapons back as they prepared to lunge. Shinji gritted his teeth, as he waited to make his move, all the while trying to prevent his opponent from crushing his skull. He looked at his enemy to see it smirk evilly, as it suddenly flipped its weapon, using the unused end to attack Shinji. However, by an extreme stroke of luck, Shinji jumped back, causing the blades to smash into one another, causing one of the blades to slip and impale the core of one, effectively silencing it.

Asuka on the other hand was having a ball. She was familiar with their movements and had no trouble whatsoever dodging or parrying their attacks. Any direct charges, she could simply sidestep and broadside them, usually sending them face first into the ground. For the most part she toyed with her foes, as they bored her. Sure there was some challenge, but she wanted to pay back against all 9, instead of just a 3rd of them. She wanted all of them, but this was on situation she had to make a compromise, despite her attitude. Seeing that things were getting boring, as the spectacular moves of her seemed pointless now since their movements were so predictable for her, she stopped dead in her tracks, as she watched the MP Eva's charged her, big mistake on their part. At the moment one of them neared her she leaped over her opponent landing behind her before she whirled around and stabbed it behind the back, through the entry plug, permanently silencing her opponent.

Rei in her case was weaving in and out of her opponent's moves, parrying, back-pedalling, sidestepping and on occasions lunged back at her opponents. However the MP Eva's were no match in terms of her speed due to such a cumbersome weapon that they wield in comparison to hers. One tried a hammering move which she easily redirected into the ground as she sidestepped, seconds later ducking backwards to dodge a chest level slash before she flipped over and swept her attacker's feet. She rose back up and did a back flip as her opponent tried to strike her down. As she landed, she lunged forward impaling her opponent's S2 Engine, silencing it.

However moments after three of the nine fell, something went wrong. The remaining six immediately jumped back as they formed a circle around the 3 Eva's. As they wondered what their opponents were doing, all the MP Eva's smiled a sinister smile as they transformed their weapons into their lance forms. All the weapons began to glow orange, as the MP Eva's wrapped their AT Fields around their weapons. All 6 leapt into the air, suddenly dropping down as they slammed their blades into the ground, producing shockwaves as the AT Fields spread outwards from the point of contact.

"Everyone, get the hell out of there!" Ritsuko's voice suddenly bellowed. The three pilots immediately willed their Eva's to jump, but even at the height, all three suddenly were overcome with pain as all 6 domes collided against the pilots. All three felt like their very essence were being squeezed out of them as they felt themselves being compressed against one another and the 6 AT Fields that have formed around them. It was a pain like no other, as they field all forms of physical pain coursing through them. They could feel themselves somehow suffering freezer burns, fire burns, cuts, slashes, electrical shock, everything. It was all mind numbing, and yet their natural reaction to faint from these pains had somehow been suppressed as they continue to experience pain.

Meanwhile in Central Dogma, all hell had broken loose. Technicians were scrambling around as they tried to figure out what was wrong, and how they could ease the pilot's pain. It was driving everyone up the wall as they panicked, trying their very best to find out what was going on.

"Ritsuko, what the hell is happening out there!" Misato bellowed into the doctor's face.

"I wish I knew," she regretfully replied, "All I know is that somehow the powers of the AT Field are affecting them as they were intended. Remember, the AT Field is short for Absolute Terror Field. I'm assuming that what the MP Eva's are doing is a form of the powers of the AT Field. One way to terrorise your opponents is with pain. But I can't think of a way to cancel it because I believe using their AT Fields would only add to the problem." She turned to a console as she tried her very best to figure a way out of the pilots.

"Damn it all!" Misato bellowed, "Don't we have anything that can help them?"

"Sub Commander, unidentified aircraft entering the vicinity," Lt. Ibuki cried out from her console.

"What's that?"

"Confirmed, there is an aircraft heading straight for the battlefield," Lt. Hyuga reported.

"Patch me through to that aircraft," Misato ordered.

"Standby…" Lt. Ibuki replied as she worked furiously, "Channel opened."

"Unidentified aircraft, this is Sub Commander Katsuragi of NERV," she spoke aloud, "You are entering a danger zone. Turn around immediately," when there was no response, "Get me a visual of that aircraft!" Moments later a screen appeared, displaying a black jet plane, triangular shaped, with a grey circle on the front with the number 6 written in black.

"What the hell? Ritsuko, is that what I think it is?"

"But how…it's not due for another two weeks!"

"What's that?" however before Ritsuko could reply, a new screen appeared.

"NERV, this is Natasha Kanatnikov, of the Russian KGB, 7th Child, pilot of Evangelion Unit 06."

**And that concludes Chapter I. So what are your thoughts? Better than the original? I personally thought so. And I'm glad that you guys so far approve of my story. I hope to read your reviews soon. Well anyways, that's all from me.**


	3. 6th and 7th Children

**Inescapable Grasp of Eva, Gathering of the Children**

**Chapter II Let the Gather Begin**

**Hey guys, I see that you liked Chapter I. Well time to reintroduce Natasha and Jon into my story, as you can so plainly tell from the title of the story. On with the chapter, and to those who don't want to see Sam's ugly mug, you won't have to as I won't be bringing him in for another few chapters. And another thing, do you guys mind passing this story on to other people so that they can read? I would like to gain some of my old reviewers as well as gain some now ones.**

**NiNe-InCh-NaIlS: I can't make any promises, but I will try to update often as possible.**

**Naon Tiotami: I'm glad you enjoyed the battle. Hopefully this battle will suit you, if not; I plan to have another battle in a few chapters.**

**J.G. The Hotshot Gamer: My friend, if it wasn't for me, your story would till have that deadpanned feel to it for lack of description and emotion. And as for your sword question, each person will get a different sword, and no, I do not plan to use swords like the one Darth Maul used, nor do I plan to have anyone wielding two words, with the exception of Jon, because of his Progressive Blade technology.**

**JamesConrad01: And thank you for the compliment. My writing has been steadily improving over the last while. And no, she does not use a Rapier. I would've said so.**

"NERV, this is Natasha Kanatnikov, of the Russian KGB, 7th Child, pilot of Evangelion Unit 06." The screen displayed a girl, wearing a grey plug suit, designed exactly like Rei's save for 06 written instead of 00. She had blue eyes, button nose, and high cheekbones. Her hair was brown, braided as it hung over one of her shoulders.

"You're not supposed to be here for another two weeks," Ritsuko called out from her station, eliciting a confused stare from Misato.

"I am aware, however the MAGI at the Russian NERV detected the MP Eva's, and ordered for my immediate dispatch," she calmly replied.

"Another two weeks? Ritsuko, what the hell is going on?" Misato asked, or to be precise, screamed, at the good doctor, from her perch high up in Central Dogma where the Commander once sat.

"I'll explain later," she shot back, then turned to the bridge 'bunnies', "Lt. Ibuki, prep the catapult to launch Unit 06's Progressive Sword!"

"Ryoukai," she answered back as she worked at her console, "Sword is on standby, it will launch when Unit 06's launch trajectory has been established."

"Understood," Natasha replied as she began to work on a holographic console, "Standby for launch, I am dropping in t-minus 20 seconds."

"Standby…determining trajectory based on launch time…set, Unit 06, launching sword on your call."

"Understood, launching in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, launch!" As the black carrier prepared to drop its load, the staff in Central Dogma received all the specs of Unit 06. A white Eva painted in the same scheme as the MP Eva's save for its head, which resembled greatly to Unit 00. However, unlike Unit 00, it did not possess the large circular green dome on the top of its head, and instead of a faceless Cyclops, it had mouth guard, chin similarly built to Unit 01, and a large slit where its eyes are. Soon after the carrier had the arm and shoulder guard restraints released, as the slid back along the clamps before dropping down. The carrier immediately turned around as it fired its boosters. For a moment, the unit remain inert, as it pummelled downward toward its supposed doom.

Inside, Natasha began to mutter in Russian as she brought her Eva online. Soon the plug glowed, various colours and lights flashing in the plug, before her surrounds appeared in the plug. The once black slit on the Eva's face soon glowed to life as a pair of eyes could be seen, shaped exactly like Unit 01's. The Eva curled as it began to roll in the air. As she nears the battlefield, she sees the sword rocketing towards her. She suddenly uncurls herself as she reaches out and grabs the sword. She unsheathes it to reveal a double edged sword, with a black hilt. Inside, Natasha smirked, at her sword of preference, as she lands.

She looks up to see she hand landed just outside one of the dome-shaped AT Barriers of the MP Eva's. She quickly brought her sword up as she slashed down upon it, only to have it deflect. She began to curse as she tried to expand her AT Field only to find it simply pressed against it yet lacking the desired effect to cancel the field. The results or lack thereof began to irritate Natasha as she tried any and all means to save the Eva Pilots.

Meanwhile, the other three pilots continue to suffer intolerable pain. Their screams of agony resonated greatly within the halls of Central Dogma as the staff could only watch as the kids suffered pains like no other, and kept alive and conscious. Their attempts to cut nerve connections failed as the fields were interfering with the signals. The MP Eva's all wore sickening smiles as they continued to torment the three Eva Pilots, content with simply hurting them. Over the connections, the bridge staff could hear their cries of pain, as they begged, or rather Shinji begged for the pain to end while they writhed and struggled, trying to endure the never ending pain.

Natasha continued to hammer and pound the field, but to no avail. She was getting exhausted, and it seemed that the MP Eva units had no iota of interest in her, and were simply bent on causing pain to the three main pilots, until they deemed the time worthy to kill them.

"Sub Commander," a voice called out, "Another aircraft entering the airspace. It's identifying itself as Unit 05's carrier ship."

"Just in the nick of time," Ritsuko breathed out in relief.

"What's that?" Misato stated.

"I'll explain later," then turning to Maya again, "Patch us through with the carrier." Moments later, a new screen appeared as it revealed the pilot, this time a male. He was wearing a plug suit designed exactly like Shinji's except that it was black instead of blue along the bottom portion of the suit. He had black hair, and brown eyes. His hair was more or less buzz cut, save for the upper part of his hair, which appeared to be spiked despite the fact he was in a tube of LCL. Also along the sides of his upper arms, three chevrons seemed to be designed into the suit. On his chest, the number 05 was emblazoned, while just to the right of it the numbers 637 was written in smaller text, and underneath it read Arrow Squadron.

The pilot saluted as he spoke in a clean crisp manner, "Sergeant Dang Jonathan, Evangelion Pilot Unit 05, reporting for duty ma'am. Awaiting your instructions Sub Commander Katsuragi."

'What's with this kid? A Sergeant, why the hell does he think…this is too weird.' "We'll have to skip the introductions for now. If you look down, you'll notice that three of our Eva's are trapped in some sort of multi-way AT Field trap. Launch immediately. I don't know how much pain the pilot can handle."

"Understood, permission to take command in terms of the battlefield?"

Misato opened her mouth to object when Ritsuko cut her off, "Permission granted. Do whatever you deem necessary." Jonathan nodded as he disengaged the connection.

Misato huffed as she marched right up to the good doctor's face, "Ritsuko!" Misato bellowed, "Don't you ever, step over me like that again! Understood!"

"Understood, however, Pilot Dang is much more suited for the role of leadership. You'll understand soon enough."

"Ma'am, two more carriers have entered our airspace. They seem to be carrying cargo."

"Let them pass," Ritsuko replied, "That is with Unit 05," she then turned to Misato who looked like she was about to blow a fuse, "Look, let's get this situation over with, and then I'll explain everything." Misato reluctantly nodded as she turned her attention back towards the battle screen before her.

Overhead, an Eva was in its final preparations for activation. An Evangelion, its body following the standard design, was of a pure black color, save for its arms which were painted exactly like that of Unit 00 except its hands which were black instead of blue. Mounted on each of its forearm, were what seemed to be a pair of forearm guards, with slits just above the wrists. The head of the Eva matched greatly to that of Unit 01, minus the horn, and that the dark purple was black, and the light purple was white.

Inside, Pilot Dang began to mutter in some language as he started up his Evangelion. Soon enough, his Eva was online as he ordered for his Eva to launch, along with his cargo. In the same manner as Natasha's Eva, the restraining clamps released the shoulder guards and arms as the unit slid along the rails before it began to freefall down towards the earth below it, along with the two cargo boxes that could hold two Evas each. As the eyes of the Eva began to glow to life, it tilted its body as it allowed itself to rocket downwards. At the last moment, the Eva spread itself as it slowed itself as much as it could before finally landing next to Natasha's Eva. A few moments later, the two cargo cases dropped.

Unit 05 immediately ran up to one of the cargo containers, and opening a panel, and pulled out two massive bazookas and passed one to Natasha's Eva.

"First of all, call me Jon," the 6th Child stated, "Secondly, here's the plan: We're both going to bombard one of the 6 AT Field domes until it collapses. The moment it does, you begin to take out the others, while I try to disable the exposed Eva and try to get the pilots down. Understood?" Natasha simply nodded before mounting the launcher onto her Eva's shoulder. Both pilots immediately took up aim as they fired. Instantly, the dome Natasha had been trying to bring down was bombarded by a pair of powerful bolts of positron energy, sending powerful ripples from the two impact zones. Immediately the field already began to show signs of weakness.

"Keep firing," Jon called out, as he dropped his weapon and charged. As it charged, his Eva whipped out its arms as double-edged blades appeared from the slits of his forearm guards, the length of about the forearm of the Eva. The blades immediately began to glow a golden hue as it began to vibrate. Natasha continued to bombard the field, until it finally collapsed, giving Unit 05 access to the exposed MP Eva which attempted to re-establish its field.

The three pilots felt a bit of the pain leave them, but not enough for them to fight it off. They continued to scream, yell, holler, and writhe in agony as the MP Units began to amp up their assault, this time adding the feel of having their limbs ripped out slowly, socket by socket, tissue by tissue.

The exposed Eva desperately tried to re-establish its field, but all in vain, as it had to suddenly contend with the new comer. However it never knew what hit it as it was instantly impaled from the back, piercing its entry plug, silencing the unit. As Natasha bombarded one of the other fields, Jon quickly kicked the downed unit off his blade looked up at the three floating Eva's. The situation appeared to be grim, as all three, despite being pressed against one another, were contorted with pain, as their bodies shook, shuddered, wriggled and other such movements related to pain. Jon knew that the MP had upped their attack, as it seemed that the arms and legs were slowly being torn apart, based on the stress placed on the amour, or from what he could tell from his distance.

Taking a look of his surroundings, he suddenly realised that in the moments the field had collapsed, the field of the two neighbouring ones expanded to take up the missing space. But what had disturbed him was the fact there was just enough space in between to fit him. He deduced had the fields been any bigger, he would've either been crushed or be suffering a lesser degree of pain as the other three were. He took a moment to assess his surroundings.

To his left, the doom was weakening due to the strain the positron weapon was putting on the field. To his right, a full strength field, so strong no AT Field could cancel it, nor could any Progressive Weaponry cut, and ahead and above, the three hero pilots, all suffering unimaginable torture, and directly ahead, three more MP Eva's. Jon's mind began to work, as he prioritised what needed to be done in order for the mission to succeed; preferably with minimal casualties.

His mind came to a conclusion, as he made contact with Unit 06, "7th Child, what's your name? And cease fire on the unit to my left, and bombard the unit to my right."

"I am Natasha Kanatnikov," she firmly replied, "And will do." She immediately stopped her attack and redirected her aim towards the unit Jon specified. Unit 05 immediately retracted its blades, as it pulled out a pair of knives from its shoulder compartment, and held them so that the blades pointed downwards. Unit 05 immediately reared its arms back, as they punctured the field with great ease. Jon tested the strength of the field and pulled downwards, to find that it was strong enough that his knives didn't cut through. Seeing that the field would hold, Jon began to scale up the field, using the blades like rungs on a ladder, as he pulled himself up. A difficult task indeed, but soon enough he had reached the top. He looked to his right to see that the Eva's were simply trapped against the 5 fields, and not inside a separate field greatly relieved him as he did not care to become trapped as they were.

Natasha on the other hand continued to bombard the fields, with shot after shot. She was highly impressed by the power of the Positron weapon in her hands, and had to ask how it worked later. To be able to do so much damage to an AT Field despite the very fact that almost nothing can truly pierce an AT Field, let alone weaken it.

Jon took a moment to formulate a new portion of his plan. He knew what he was about to do was dangerous, and could possibly kill them, but with the given time and state they were in, he knew he would have to act fast in order to save all three of them. Jon took a few deep breathes, stored his knives back into the holsters, and sprinted, as fast as he could towards the center. He reached out as he grabbed two of the flailing arms of two Eva's, one orange, the other blue, as he dragged them out by jumping up as hard as he could. He could feel them wrenching loose, but also felt that the 5 domes had also began to expand encasing Unit 01. Jon instantly wrapped his AT Field around Unit 01, providing it a temporary shield against the MP Eva's field. But a field of that strength against 5 would not last long. When he felt that both units were free, it took all his strength and will power to throw Units 00 and 02 forward and away from the MP Eva's field.

Asuka and Rei who were suffering intolerable pain, had closed their eyes as to somehow alleviate the pain that was there, continued to cry out agonizing cries, as they fought to keep themselves together. Soon that pain somehow subsided, as they felt themselves being pulled out of that hell hole. Finally relieved of that pain, they opened their eyes to see what had happened when the next thing they knew they were thrown clear over the AT Fields, as they skidded along the ground to a stop.

Unit 05 as it fell realized that the moment he landed, he'd have to leave Shinji behind for a moment, as he couldn't risk landing on a slope. As the Eva landed on one of the fields, it pushed back with all its might as it jumped again, flipping backwards a few times before landing on top of another field. Not even taking a moment to breathe, Unit 05 dashed forward again, as it reached out grabbing Unit 01's arm, which grabbed onto its arm, and jumped up at the exact time as its field collapsed from the pressure. Seeing how at the angle at which they had jumped, Jon knew that they would end up landing on the curved side, and would risk falling into the center of that death trap. However that problem was lifted when the MP Eva's dropped their fields and spread out, each of them engaging one of the Eva's.

Natasha when she saw the fields drop; she instantly discarded her weapon and drew her sword from the ground as she charged forward. One of the MP Eva Units turned around and charged forward, all intents on her. As the two mighty Units charged, Asuka and Rei were in bad shape. Still recovering from their recent experience from a 6-way compressing AT Field, neither of the pilots were strong enough to even lift up their Eva's, and were sitting ducks. They struggled to get up; two of the MP Eva's approached them, with sickly smiles on their faces, their teeth bared, as they prepared to take on the defenceless Eva's. Jon on the other hand, was wracking his brain for an idea. He had little time to prepare, and 4-on-1 was not in his favour, unless he could kill them off quick enough, which he highly doubted if they attacked him at once, plus there was the fact if he saved the girls, there's a chance he couldn't save Shinji, and same thing vice versa. He was in a bind, but he knew he would have to take his chances.

As he landed however, he looked up to see that the girls were about to be slain. He knew he had no chance in saving the girls, and turned his attention towards the two that were advancing on him. He quickly extended the blades on his forearms and took up a stance, as he prepared to fight off his aggressors. During this time as Unit 05 prepared to lunge forward into a 2-on-1 battle, Unit 06 was having a ball.

When they had contacted, the MP had attempted to hammer Unit 06, only to have its attack deflected as the blade ate dirt. Natasha had brought her blade up horizontally, as she deflected the blow, pushing the massive weapon away by letting it slide against her blade, and pushing it further away with her hand guard. As she spun to her left, she had all intent and purpose to impale its side. However it saw the attack and had jumped as it flipped into the air, and landed a couple meters from its weapon. Natasha immediately lunched forward, as the MP Unit sidestepped however felt one of its legs lift, as Unit 06 had hooked one of its feet almost after it attacked. Seeing the lack of balance her opponent had she instantly swung her weapon hard right as it cleanly beheaded her opponent. However she had received Intel that these units could only be stopped by destroying their cores or the plugs. Her left hand shot out as it gripped the core; she let out a yell, wrenching the core out of its body as she kicked it away with all her might. As the core was pulled out, or to be precise crudely ripped out, a defending roar could be heard, that resonated throughout all of Tokyo-3, and even down to the GeoFront and NERV itself.

It even drew the attention of the MP Eva's fighting Unit 05 as their directed their attention towards where Unit 00 and 02 were. Both Units had reached Berserker states, their jaw guards ripped away from their mouth guards, revealing a set of similarly jagged red teeth in both Units mouths. Both monsters had grabbed the sides of the massive weapons, and struggled as they slowly stood up, forcing their opponents back. Jon, capitalising on the moment of distraction, immediately strikes, impaling both units in the core and plug, utterly silencing both units.

Jon then directed his attention to Unit 01 which he quickly laid against a building, "Hey Ikari-san, you all right?"

"Yeah," he weakly replied, as his face appeared, "How do you know my name?"

"You're a lot more famous than you give yourself credit for," he calmly replied, "By the way, I'm Jon Dang."

However before Shinji could reply, Misato's face appeared in both plugs, "Pilot Dang, get Pilot Ikari inside now! We'll do introductions in the medical ward once this is over. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," he quickly replied, saluting her as she cut connections.

"C'mon," Jon grunted as he brought one of Unit 01's arms over the shoulder of his Unit, "You have to show me the way to the catapults."

"What about the girls?" Shinji weakly asked.

"I am in no mood to face their Berserker Eva's," he joking replied, "I'd much rather wait it out than get involved." Shinji weakly laughed as he directed Jon to the catapults.

The battle was going horrendously, in terms of the SEELE Eva's. During the time Unit 05 was assisting Unit 01, both winged Eva's had taken off into the air after being disarmed. However this did not deter the red and blue monstrosities as they used whatever means they had to bring down their opponents. Both berserkers let out howls of anger as they picked up the fallen lances, and hurtled them towards the MP Units. Although the units were agile, neither units were prepared at the powerful and forceful throw of the berserker, as at the next moment they knew, both units felt a wide blade enter their chests before blacking out forever into eternity.

Natasha could only watch in awe, at the strength and superiority of the power of the berserker. She had read many reports done about this state but to be a witness of such strength and power was incredible. To see an Eva launch something so massive with great ease and with such a force can only make one wonder under what conditions these beasts could take before finally falling to their opponents. That was a question that would be best left unanswered.

Both Units let out one more howl before finally collapsing as both units fell silent. Immediately Natasha heard over the radio for recovery teams to be dispatched for all the Eva's, but nonetheless she began to approach the fallen Eva's, intent on making sure that the two pilots would be fine.

A few hours later, Shinji began to stir, as he finally re-entered the waking world, to be greeted by yet another unfamiliar ceiling. He groaned out slightly in pain, as he turned his head to the left, to see an empty chair, and just a bit beyond that, Rei's sleeping form, and also just a bit beyond her, a window showing the lake before NERV. To his right, Asuka was sitting on her bed, rubbing her head. Assumingly, she had also woken up.

During the last few hours the three pilots had been recovering, Misato was finally fuming. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now. During the recovery, she had almost literally dragged Ritsuko into her office where all hell finally broke loose.

"Alright Ritsuko," she started angrily, "I want answers, AND I WANT THEM NOW!" nearly throwing a fit when she yelled.

Fearing Misato's anger at the moment, she quickly pulled out a few folders and handed them to the Sub Commander, "Before you freak out, I only found out about the new pilots a few hours prior, so I didn't have a chance to tell you anything. But since we're on the subject, here are the general profile of each of the new pilots." Withholding her anger for now, Misato took the folders and began looking through them.

Fifth Child  
Name: Samuel (Isaac) Jackson  
Sex: Male  
Age: 16  
Birthday: August 21  
Nationality: American  
Hometown: Carson City, Nevada, USA  
Height: 151cm  
Weight: 62kg

Original test pilot of Eva Unit 04, he had the pleasure and from certain points of view, the pain, of activating Unit 04's experimental S2 Engine, which resulted in swallowing all of Nevada into the Sea of Dirac. He along with other students of his age, were all found to be compatible with the Evangelion technology, if sufficient training was to be provided. When tested amongst all the candidates, as the Project-E was disclosed to the American public due to the relative safety compared to Japan, it was found that he had the highest sync ratio among all the possible pilots.

His personality however is of a disturbing nature. The most disturbed part of his mind, based on observation is his reaction around non-white Americans, and all other foreigners. This extreme racist attitude is due to incidents in his past. Any material pertaining to his past is highly classified and must have appropriate clearance in order to obtain a copy.

On a personal level, he is currently a Sankyu, Brown Belt with 3 stripes in the martial arts of Karate. Although some have said that he is hot headed and rushes in without thinking, he is extremely dangerous in close combat, as he has proven his skills as he had to once kill a man to defend himself. His native language is English, and is able to speak both Japanese and German fluently.

Sixth Child  
Name: Jonathan (Bao Long) Dang **(A/N: My real name Bao Long is my Vietnamese name)**  
Sex: Male  
Age: 17  
Birthday: November 24  
Nationality: Canadian  
Hometown: Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada  
Height: 173cm  
Weight: 75kg  
Licenses: To carry and discharge a 9mm handgun, To carry and discharge an M16 assault rifle, To carry and discharge a 20mm Sniper Rifle, Marksmanship Level 4, and Emergency First Aid

Jonathan was selected to become the pilot of Evangelion Unit 05 on September 11th. He was ranked one of the top 10, among the 100 possible candidates in all of Canada. Any information pertaining to Project-E in Canada was restricted to the hundred candidates only, and Cadet Squadrons any of the candidates belonged to. Upon the day of selection for the pilot of Unit 05, Pilot Dang was discovered to have the highest sync ratio with his Eva, and therefore was selected to pilot the unit.

He was part of Air Cadet Squadron, Unit 637 Arrow Squadron, but upon his selection as the pilot of Unit 05, he was granted a commission to full military service, possessing the rank of Sergeant, within the Air Element of the Canadian Forces. He has also been trained in survival, leadership, and various styles of teaching.

He is loyal, usually polite to his peers yet uses slander often when he speaks. However despite his somewhat slanderous attitude and his lack of professionalism at times, it is to be expected of one who spends a lot of time in the military. Those who know him or get to know him will see he has a split personality, and is sometimes confused as a schizophrenic. However that is not the case, as he has a habit of altering his composure depending on the situation. For instant, in the field of battle, he is a cool level headed soldier, and a tactician.

On a more personal level, he uses a self taught style of martial arts, and is a highly effective sniper. He can be seen on a balcony during his spare time listening to mostly slow songs, or as he classes them as his 'relaxing music.' If not, he is on a range, honing his sniper abilities or around a local Games Workshop. He speaks fluent English, Japanese as well as a fair amount of Vietnamese.

Seventh Child  
Name: Natasha Kanatnikov  
Sex: Female  
Age: 17  
Birthday: April 3  
Nationality: Russian  
Hometown: Moscow, Russia  
Height: 173cm  
Weight 60kg  
Licenses: To carry and discharge a number of firearms, primarily a 9mm handgun.

Born into the family whose father is father is the commander of the Russian Branch, she was instantly placed as one of the 5 Russian Candidates. She was selected 2 weeks after the 6 month marker of Third Impact, yet was considered to be the underdog at the time. However, despite the fact she was the underdog, she fought.

She is headstrong, loyal, polite, and is very honest unless ordered to be dishonest. She is currently an officer within the KGB, and has been trained in KGB Martial arts as well as firearms training. She is incredibly strong for a girl her age, as it has been proven when she underwent the male training regime when she joined the KGB. Because of her training with the KGB and her naturally enhanced strength from her father, she was able to use it to her advantage in terms of endurance testing, as well as her accuracy testing, which earned her designation as the 7th Child from the Marduk Institute.

On a more personal level, she is kind to people, but as stated before, fiercely loyal to her friends and on one occasion, threatened a persons life for harming one of her friends. However this has not affected her, as she is well known in Russia, as the daughter of the Commander of the Russian NERV Branch, as the 7th Child, and as one of the most loyal citizens of Russia. She is able to speak various languages including: Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Italian and English.

Eighth Child  
Name: Jane (Ying Fa) Tao  
Sex: Female  
Age: 14  
Birthday: May 30  
Nationality: Chinese  
Hometown: Beijing, China  
Height: 143cm  
Weight: 56kg  
Licenses: To carry and use a sword, and To carry and discharge a .45 Colt handgun.

Jane Tao is a descendant of a powerful clan during the Ming Dynasty, which is the head family that controls the Chinese NERV branch. Because of her lineage she received direct training to operate her Eva much like the Second Child. At this point however, both the mother and father are deceased, and with her pilot status, the duty of commanding NERV HQ in China has fallen to her brother when he is of age. The Chinese NERV Branch at this point is currently under the command of her Uncle, Commander Tao, Ying Hua.

She is open minded, around people, and gives a helping hand when needed. Her true loyalty lies in only her friends, who she has deemed worth of such a title. Outside her 'circle of friends,' as many people have deemed it, she will only pay the needed respect when she is in public. In terms of someone who is in a position of power, she will provide the utmost respect.

She has a personal preference to live alone, as at the moment she currently lives in a handcrafted bamboo hut outside of Beijing. During her spare time she is often seen training in her martial arts, or instructing at a martial arts dojo she belongs so. On occasions, she is seen in malls with her close friends. She is currently a Nidan, Black Belt with 2 stripes in the martial arts of Karate. She is extremely dangerous when armed with a sword however if need be she will use her .45 Colt which she is licensed to carry and discharge.

Misato let out an impressed whistle as she finished looking over the final profile, "Quiet a diverse bunch we have here."

"That we do Sub Commander," Ritsuko replied, "I have the schedule of their arrivals," she then quickly flipped a few pages on her clipboard, "Let's see…Canada, just in the nick of time I might add, with two cargo loads of new weapons, which we will have to conduct tests later. Then there's Russia who came to our aid thank kami-sama, but instead showed up today, instead of two weeks from now, Unit 04 will be arriving here in two weeks as well, the actual day and time has yet to be determined, and lastly, if we don't have any problems, Unit 07 will be here at the end of the month, after field testing a specially designed bow staff for the unit."

"I wonder why we have all these additional pilots though," Misato wondered aloud, "I mean with all the Angels gone, we don't really need them, unless…this has to do with Antarctica…"

Ritsuko nodded her head, "Actually yes, it has to do with it. We don't have all the information, but our new Commander, you'll meet him later, has decided to act quickly, and has ordered that the entire series is to be completed, however he is thinking about expanding the series if need be."

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Misato mumbled, "I don't know if I could even take having to watch out for 8 Units and pilots. Good lord I need a beer and fast."

"Well we can't do that at the moment," Ritsuko flatly stated as she took back the folders, "We still have to debrief the new comers, as well as our current pilots, plus we have to reinstated Pilot Suzuhara, the 4th Child."

"Yeah, yeah," the already exhausted Sub Commander breathed out as she got up, "I just want this day to end."

"Asuka, what happened?" Shinji asked groggily, after he managed to sit upright and reorient himself.

Asuka shrugged, "Don't know yet, I suppose we'll find out once we're released."

"That'll be soon enough, Pilot Soryu," a male voice spoke, spooking both bedded pilots. Asuka looked to her right, while Shinji looked past Asuka to the door near the left corner, to see two people entering. One was a tall girl, fair skinned Russian female, braided brown haired reaching down to the small of her back, wearing a black suit and tie with a white dress shirt, and a black nametag pinned over her left chest, with KANATNIKOV written in Russian, in white letters. Next to her stood an Asian male, wearing what appeared to be a military uniform. He was had a pair of glasses, and was wearing a royal blue tunic with two breast pockets and a pair of pockets at the bottom, a belt around his waist, on each arm three chevrons between his shoulders and elbow, a half circle badge at the top of the sleeve with the numbers 637 Arrow sewn on, and near the cuffs, were a series of various badges and such. Also, above his right breast pocket were a couple of medals, and above his left, was a blue nametag, written in the same coloured text, except it read DANG, in English text. He also wore a pair of royal blue dress pants, in which the creases were extremely sharp, due to what appeared to be constant ironing, extremely shiny black boots, a sky blue dress shirt with a black tie, and a royal blue wedge, with the a Canadian Maple Leaf with an Eagle on the front left side of it.

"Please identify yourselves," Rei's quiet voice suddenly shot out. Despite the lack of volume, the manner she expressed herself was more than enough to hint the annoyance she had against people entering as such.

"Please forgive us," Dang apologised as he took off his headdress, "I'm Sergeant Dang, Jon, of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Canadian NERV Branch, 6th Child, Pilot of Unit 05," he then motioned towards Kanatnikov, "This here is KGB Officer Natasha Kanatnikov, Russian NERV Branch, 7th Child, Pilot of Unit 06. We're the ones who saved you from the MP Eva's."

"You're the one who I directed to the cages," Shinji suddenly exclaimed, pointing directly towards him.

"Please do not point at people, it's rather rude," his once calm and gentle voice was suddenly replaced by a cool, calculating command voice, as Jon narrowed his eyes, glaring straight at Shinji, who instantly cringed at the powerful and fearful gaze of Jon. Rei however did not take this too kindly.

"Please refrain from speaking to Shinji-kun in such a manner, Sergeant Dang."

Jon opened his mouth to say something back, but withheld his statement, and opted for a different response, "Very well, Ayanami-san, I shall."

"Don't mind him," Natasha finally spoke, revealing that she had a rather bass-like voice, yet maintaining her femininity, "He apparently is like this whenever he's in a military setting. When I met him in the cages, he was a lot more relaxed. Don't worry about me, I am not an, 'ass', unless someone pisses me off."

"Well I see you guys have already met," a cherry voice spoke from behind the two new pilots, revealing to be Misato, "Well now that I'm assuming that the introductions are done, so I'll get straight to the point, after you three get dressed. You'll notice that your plug suits are hanging at the foot of your beds. Take a quick shower, and head to the briefing room." All three downed pilots nodded as they got out of bed and grabbed their plug suits.

"I don't know about the hentai over there," jabbing her thumb in Shinji's direction, then glaring at Jon, "But if you don't want me to start strangling you for ogling my beautiful body, I suggest you scram!"

Jon chuckled for a moment, "Sure, sure Soryu-san, I'll leave. C'mon Shinji," he beckoned, "Let's get out of here, and find you a place to change." He instantly ran out of the room fearing Asuka's wrath, closely followed by Jon. Natasha laughed herself for a moment as she waited left the room and proceeded towards the briefing room.

Soon enough, all three ridded themselves of the foul blood-like stench of LCL and entered the briefing room. It was fairly small, rectangular shaped room, with a table in the middle, long enough to seat 6 people on each side. At the end of the room, was a large flat screen, and in front of it, a large chair was set up, with a series of buttons on the arm rest. At the moment, the seat was empty. Upon entering they see Misato, Ritsuko, Jon, and Natasha, had already sat down, taking the chairs closest to the main chair, with the adults sitting on the left side, the two new comers on the right. Misato and Natasha noticed their presence, and smiled at them, Misato motioning them to take a seat. Shinji and Rei sat themselves down next to Misato, while Asuka took a seat directly across from Shinji.

"Now we wait for the Commander," Ritsuko stated.

"That will not be necessary," a calm voice stated. Jon took a look at the entrance the three pilots had entered and instantly put his headdress back on as he snapped to attention.

"Thank you Sergeant Dang," the voice replied, as he walked into the light, resulting in gasps of shock from Misato and the three pilots. Now under the scrutiny of the light, it revealed the speaker to be a tall and healthy Gendo Ikari.

"Tou…tou-san?"

**And that concludes Chapter II, of around 6000 words! So what are your thoughts, and yes, although I did introduce Jon and Natasha at the same time like last time, I plan to work with only these two for a few chapters so you guys can know their minds. Plus this is a bit of a self insert on my part in terms of Jon, so you guys will know a bit more about how I perceive myself. Remember, what we think is truth is our revised version of the truth. So therefore, you will see how I see myself, however I may clash with people who know me in real life, which is not likely on this website. Anyways, please leave me some more reviews, as I don't want all this hard work to be for nothing. Well anyways, that's all from me.**


	4. Explainations and Moving In

**Inescapable Grasp of Eva, Gather of the Children**

**Chapter III Explanations and Moving In**

**Well I noticed a lack of reviews, and that hurts me. I want to regain all my reviews and then some so please readers, don't' fail me. Anyways, to those who did review, I'm glad that you guys enjoyed the battle scene, and yeah, there were some stuff I could've omitted but that's what happens when you temporarily suffer writers block. Well anyways, that's all the rambling I'm going to do, enjoy the chapter.**

"Now we wait for the Commander," Ritsuko stated.

"That will not be necessary," a calm voice stated. Jon took a look at the entrance the three pilots had entered and instantly put his headdress back on as he snapped to attention.

"Thank you Sergeant Dang," the voice replied, as he walked into the light, resulting in gasps of shock from Misato and the three pilots. Now under the scrutiny of the light, stood a tall and apparently alive, Gendo Ikari, clad in his old NERV uniform. Yet his facial expression had softened greatly, despite that some of his command features still remained, such as his impassive composure, and his beard, yet he had discarded his tinted glasses, and wore a pair designed like before, but the lenses were of simple prescribed glasses.

"Tou…tou-san," Shinji breathed out in shock.

"Commander Ikari," Rei whispered out.

"I don't like the looks of this," Misato muttered.

"I can understand your scepticism Sub Commander," Gendo stated as he walked around to his seat, "However this is a permanent establishment, as I will be the Commander of this base from now on." Upon reaching his seat, everyone, who knew him didn't know whether to be shocked, or relax themselves, as they watched Gendo lean back into his seat. It was then Jon finally took of his headdress and sat down, as he looked at Gendo impassively

"I shall get straight to the point. We have received Intel that SEELE has returned when Third Impact reached its conclusion. Because of this, I have decided that the rest of the Eva Series is to be completed, along with the transfer of the 'original' 5th Child through 8th. We have already received the 6th and 7th Children, Sergeant Dang, and KGB Officer Kanatnikov. I shall not disclose the identity of the 5th nor 8th Children until they arrive. Do note I shall be reinstating the 4th Child, Pilot Suzuhara Toji to pilot Unit 03, as he is the one most likely able to activate the Eva. Now the purpose, is most likely that they will want to reinitiate 3rd Impact for their own purposes like before. However they will come in force this time, and unlike before, we were under a scenario, dictated by the Dead Sea Scrolls, which I am sure you are all away of."

Shinji opened his mouth to yell at his father when he brought his hand up, "I am aware of your feelings Shinji, however now is not the time. If you wish, we can talk another day. But today, is not the day to do such," he put his hand down and took a deep breath, "SEELE, I am assuming, is furious, and will most likely be assaulting us often, as they desire Unit 01, and the Lance of Longinus, which both reside in this base, and are the key instruments to initiate another Impact. We cannot, and will not allow this to happen. I was granted this chance of life, providing that I lead NERV through this fight against SEELE. Do not ask the origins of my reincarnation, for I will not divulge that information. But suffice it to say, this is a form of atonement. With that aside, are there any questions at the moment?"

Jon then started to speak, "Sir, might I recommend that we begin retraining the-"

"I said questions Sergeant," Gendo quickly cut in, "Not comments or recommendations."

"Yes sir," Jon crisply replied and leaned back into his chair.

"If there are no questions, I shall continue. As you know, Unit 05 has brought along cargo of new Positron Weaponry. Next week I want sync training in conjunction with the testing of the new weaponry, under the command of Sergeant Dang. On that note, as of now, Sergeant Dang is the lead pilot, with KGB Officer Kanatnikov, as his second in command."

"WHAT?" Asuka shrieked as she shot up, knocking her chair over, "You expect me, your best pilot to actually follow the orders of these," struggling to find a word, "Amateurs!" for lack of a better term. Jon, Natasha, and especially Gendo, narrowed their eyes.

"Pilot Soryu, stand down," Gendo growled, "Unless you have leadership capabilities that we are not aware of sit down."

"But-"

"PILOT SORYU STAND DOWN!" Everyone jumped and looked at Gendo, but he had remained still. Their eyes then shifted to his left towards Jon, who was on his feet, and glaring at Asuka with the same commanding stare on his face, and to boot a powerful voice. Asuka however stared him back.

"Make me," she defiantly replied, getting straight into his face.

Jon however let out a heavy sigh and sat down, "Sir, as my first act as the squad commander, I recommend that Pilot Soryu be taken off pilot status and under go training, to respect her senior officers."

"I'm afraid that would do no good," Gendo calmly replied, "No amount of training would be able to teach her proper respect."

"Then might I recommend she'd be taken off pilot status?"

"What? He can't do that!" Asuka shrieked.

"Sorry Asuka, but he's already in command," Misato wearily stated, looking up from a document Ritsuko just passed her, "It's official on the roster that Sergeant Dang is the person you report to."

"So unless you want someone else riding your Unit 02, I suggest you sit down," Jon growled out. Asuka started to mutter a string of German curses under her breath, but nodded and brought her seat back up and sat down.

"With that matter aside," the Commander resumed, now leaning against the table in his famous stance of propping his elbows and bridging his hands, "Along with the new Units, Canada during the past 6 months or so, has been working on new Positron Technology. We have received a shipment of various weapons, including assault rifles, rifles, cannons, and such, along with two Experimental AT Cannons, which proved to be highly effective during the battle today, and also a sniper rifle for Unit 05."

"So sir, are these weapons going to replace all of our projectile-based weaponry?" Misato quickly inquired.

"That is correct Sub Commander. The purpose of these tests is to calibrate the weapons, and to test them. Now there is one final order," he nodded towards Ritsuko, who passed a folder to Misato, "These papers are the documents stating that you are the official guardian of Sergeant Dang and Officer Kanatnikov. However, this is only temporary for Sergeant Dang, as this November he shall be 18, and will be allowed to move out, if he so desires."

"Tou-san, are you saying that Jon here is older than us?" Shinji piped up, completely taken aback from the age of the new pilot.

"That is correct, 3rd Child," Gendo calmly replied, yet it lacked the sting it normally held, "So as Officer Kanatnikov. She is currently 17, as well as the Sergeant, till come November," he then faced the two new pilots, "Your belongings should have arrived by now. And Sergeant Dang, your practice equipment, you must pick it up from here tomorrow, as well as your two displays, along with your larger equipment. The larger equipment will arrive next week and will be delivered. However there is one that will be arriving tomorrow with your practice gear." Jon simply nodded.

"If there is nothing else, you are dismissed." Everyone instantly got up; Jon saluted after he put on his headdress and began to walk out with everyone.

As they filed out, Gendo suddenly called out, "Sergeant, I have something that I believe belongs to you." Jon turned around to catch a set of keys. Smirking, he pocketed them, saluted the Commander once more and walked out.

"Well, I better be off," Ritsuko stated when they reached an intersection in the hallways, "I have to go over the repairs for Units 00 through 02, and to oversee the modifications for Unit 05's restraints." And with that, the faux blonde took a left and disappeared.

"Well then, this is going to be a problem," Misato stated as she led the 5 kids through the great halls of NERV, "I can't fit all of you guys in my care. Someone is going to have to hitch a ride with Section 2."

"There is no need Sub Commander," Jon called out, "I have a vehicle here I will be using." This greatly surprised Misato, as she looked back to see Jon holding up a set of keys, with a Honda tag.

"You drive at your age?" Misato asked, aghast. Jon simply nodded. Upon surfacing they quickly made their way through the lot to Misato's parked car.

"IS THAT A Renault Alpina A310 VERSION 6!" Jon nearly screamed as he rushed up to the blue vehicle and marvelled at it for a moment, leaving the others stunned. All of them, including Natasha stared at Jon incredulously. Here he was one minute, completely serious, level headed and almost cold-hearted, and next thing they knew, he was a hyper car otaku who was ogling over Misato's car, which she had finally finished paying up, thanks too all the reparation money she gained from all the relief services.

Jon looked to the group and smiled a goofy smile, "Hey, I may be in uniform, but you're my guardian Katsuragi-san, I can loosen up around you. Anyone else, I wouldn't have done what I just did, unless I was out of uniform. Besides, we're going to be living in the same household; I may as well show the real me. Oh and check out my ride." Everyone looked to where he was pointing to, which just happened to be on the other side of Misato's car, which was currently objecting their view. Everyone walked around to see Jon's vehicle, and gasped. In the parking spot, was a black, classic 2006 Honda RC 51, however with up-to-date engines built it. It was a pure black bike, save for the shocks which were gold, as well as the exhaust pipes. The seat was white leather, and on each side of the engine casing, was an image of an AVRO Arrow jetfighter.

Misato let out an impressed whistle, "Nice ride Jon, you a fast rider?"

"How fast we talking?" Jon quickly asked back, as he passed his wedge to Misato, and put on a black helmet.

"How does 150 KILOMTERS PER FUCKING HOUR SOUND!" Asuka screeched, glaring at Misato dangerously.

Natasha and Jon however smirked, at the same time saying, "Sounds like fun," earning surprised looks from Shinji and Asuka.

"H-h-h-h-h-how can y-y-y-y-y-you enjoy such sp-sp-sp-sp-speeds?" Shinji asked, dumbfounded by the newcomers interest in speed.

"I can't say the same for Natasha here," Jon began as he mounted his bike, "But I do a lot of racing. My normal speed on any road is around 80kph."

"I spent the last two years flying MiG-21's with a friend of mine who used to be in the Russian Air Force," Natasha replied as she leaned against the trunk of Misato's car.

After getting over her shock, Misato composed herself, and unlocked the doors and stated, "Well 'flyboy' if you can keep up, then do so. Just in case, I live in apartment building 106, just in the outskirts of the city."

"Will do," was Jon's only reply as he brought down the black visor, masking his face. As the others clamoured in for what would most likely be a really bad experience for them all, save possibly for Natasha, Jon fired up his bike, as he revved the engine several times waiting for Misato to head out. Once everyone had settled down and put on their seatbelts, Misato shifted gears, and soon head out. Their departure from the GeoFront was for that matter safe. However that was not to last once they had reached the main roads.

Upon reaching the main streets of Tokyo-3, Misato revved her engine a few times and sped off at her famous speeds, with Jon easily tailing her. It was rather insane, as Misato drove through the streets, DURING A TRAFFIC JAM! Somehow, to the pilot's surprise, including Jon and Natasha, Misato was able to manoeuvre her way around the mess of a traffic jam with great ease. Jon on the other hand had not real problems considering he was riding a motorcycle, except he had to reduce speed until he cleared the jam. However by the time he cleared the jam, Misato was long gone.

Shrugging, Jon still remembered the building number, and simply revved his engines and sped off again. Deciding to test the streets of Tokyo-3, he turned and started to go through all the smaller and less busy roads as he weaved in and out of alleyways, pulling off sharp turns, and just scaring the crap out of the local populous.

"Looks like flyboy couldn't keep up-WHAT!" Misato stated when she reached her building to see Jon's bike locked up, in one of the apartment's parking space, with Jon sitting on it waiting. He noticed them and waved to them, and smiled broadly at the look of confusion on Misato's face. She quickly parked the car, and got out of it, and walked straight up to Jon.

"H-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-how the hell did you get here so fast?"

Jon nervously smiled, "Well…I did take the liberty of memorising the city layout, plus I biked through the residential areas to avoid traffic."

"Good enough I suppose," Misato groaned out as she leaned back, her hands on her face, "What a day. I need my Yebisu and fast. Let's head inside." Everyone followed the peeved Sub Commander as they quickly got into the apartment elevator, and headed up to their home. Upon reaching the room, there were two duffle bags present at the foot of the door, and a green backpack.

"Well that's one good thing," Misato sighed out in relief, "At least you weren't like Asuka when she first moved in. Talk about over packing."

"Over packing?" Asuka called out, scandalized, "Excuse me, but those were necessities I'll have you know?"

"Asuka-san, how can textbooks be necessities?" Rei's quiet voice shot out, surprising everyone.

"Eh I uh…" Everyone started to giggle, while Rei simply chose to smile. Seeing Rei smile brought an even bigger smile to Shinji's face, which went unnoticed by all but two highly observant people.

"Well then," Misato stated, "Let's go in. Shinji, you and Jon are bunking, and Natasha will be bunking with the girls. Let's go!" Misato instantly swiped her card through, as all three stepped in.

Immediately the house was filled with a booming, "Tadaima!" from 3 people, the 4 simply stating it.

They walked down the entrance hall, kicking off their shoes, except Jon and Natasha who had to undo the laces of their shoes, and headed in. The living area was spacious. To the right, was a dinner table and kitchen, to the left was Pen-pen's 'house,' and in the left corner ahead of them was a TV, flanked by speakers, with a bookshelf on the opposite wall, and next to the shelf was another hallway that lead to all the other rooms. Also, the walls were adorned with a few pictures of the four people who lived under this particular household.

"Well then, why don't you two settle in, and then afterwards Shinji can make us lunch, okay?" Misato cheerily stated before disappearing in the kitchen. Shinji simply stood there for a bit before Jon nudged Shinji slightly, asking him if he was going to stand there all day or show him his room. Shinji blushed at the moment, giving his usual string of apologies and led the way. As they left, both males caught Asuka scoffing off, as she muttered something that sounded awfully lot like idiot.

The hallway itself was pretty long, but it consisted only of 6 doors. First door on the left was Misato's room, next to it was Shinji's and beyond that was a bathroom. First door on the right was the female's room, and the room next was also another bathroom. The last one was the laundry room. Shinji quickly brought Jon in who examined the contents of the room.

It was fairly simple. The room was rectangular shaped, a desk on opposite wall on the right, a closet on the wall to the right with a door and divider, and a simple bed in the corner. Jon shrugged as he took back his headdress from Shinji and threw it towards the desk, landing perfectly on the ground, a few feet from even the desk. Jon walked in and set down his bag, and pulled out some clothes and a few clothes hangers as he began to change. Shinji in the meantime turned on the lights and began searching for the spare futon that came with the room. Finding it under his bed, he turns around to see Jon putting away his tunic and dress shirt, revealing his upper torso.

Shinji nearly choked in surprise. He was about as thin as Toji, yet unlike the jock friend of his, Jon's body was well built. He had it all, powerful biceps, triceps, broad and muscular chest, a six-pack even. Shinji simply stared in surprise at the strength Jon could possibly possess, as he pulled on a white t-shirt that read 'Vietnamese Day' on the back, and a pair of black shorts. Although as Jon put on his shirt, Shinji noticed that on his left shoulder, was a tattoo. It was a black shield, with a heart on top, and on top of that was a silver sword.

"Hey Jon, what's that suppose to be on your arm?" Jon looked at him curiously for a moment and looked down at the tattoo, and smiled.

"It's a tattoo I got myself after the 2 year marker with my girlfriend Fanny," he blushed as he tried to speak again, exhibiting great embarrassment when he spoke again, "Well the thing is…it's meant to um represent my uh will to fight and protect the one I love."

"That's sounds cool," Shinji stated, as Jon pulled over his shirt, and took of his wool and sports socks, pulling out a fresh pair of sports socks and pulling it on.

"Anyways, with that aside," he took another look around the room, "I think this room will accommodate my needs. But I'm going to need to get myself a shelf for the books that I have coming in once I let my dad know where I live," he let out a heavy sigh and looked at Shinji, "I'm curious, do you have a thing for Ayanami-san?"

"I uh…" was all Shinji could say, as the question had caught him off guard.

"I'll take that as a yes I'm assuming?" Jon asked, raising an eyebrow. He merely nodded, as his face began to glow red. Jon waited for a moment to see if he was going to say anything. However no words were uttered from the secluded boy.

"But you don't know if she feels the same, and you are still afraid of some things, despite your therapy right?" Shinji nodded again in the same weak manner, his face glowing an even deeper shade of red, "It's nothing to be ashamed about, it's normal for a guy who doesn't have much social interactions to be nervous. You have nothing to worry about; I know what it's like. It took me a lot of courage to ask out this girl when I was 14, and even now, 17, going on 18, I'm still nervous when I try to ask girls I like out. But I am curious, how strong are these feelings?"

"Why are you asking me all this?" Shinji muttered, reading tomato red.

"Answer and I'll explain."

"Well I uh…the thing is…I care for her and well…" as Shinji fought with himself to say it, Jon simply stood there waiting patiently, already knowing the answer, but needing to confirm through Shinji, "I think…I think I may be in love with her."

Jon smiled broadly, "Well put my friend, but to be sure, answer the following, then I'll explain. What do you feel when you're around her? And be honest, and don't worry, I won't try to hurt you or make fun of you. I know how it feels?"

"How can I trust you on that?" Shinji bit back, harder than he intended to, "Gomen nasai. I shouldn't have been so rude"

Jon lightly chuckled, "I can't blame you. We just met, and you know nothing of me. But if it helps, growing up, I was bullied," he sat down on his side of the room and leaned against the wall, "People made fun of me, called me names, or just simply kept their distance, but I did get into a few fights, and lost badly. It was after I started high school I finally toughened up. That, and I joined the Cadet Program, and was damn lucky to join a Cadet Unit that was part of the Evangelion Project, and I just happened to be the 100th to join the Cadet Program and Project-E. I'd tell you my life story, but that's for another day. Anyways, back to my question, what do you feel when you're around Ayanami-san, Ikari-san?"

"Please, call me Shinji, and well…I suppose that I enjoy her company, but I just wish I could be closer to her."

"Oh?" raising an eyebrow in surprise, "I suppose even though she's been learning she hasn't really acted on any of her feelings?"

"No," he signed in disappointment as he slumped down onto his bed.

"Next question: Given the chance, would you date Ayanami-san?" Shinji weakly nodded his head, still looking down.

'Hmm…I wonder…' "Hypothetical question now: If someone was trying to harm Ayanami-san, would you kill the bastard to keep her safe." Shinji looked up to see Jon stare back at him with a stern face, as he waited for Shinji's response.

'I wonder how loyal…would his heart be under that situation…'

"I…I don't know."

"Psh, pathetic," Jon muttered.

"Huh?"

"You really are weak as your psychologist stated in his report," Jon shot out, glaring at him darkly, "You don't even have the capacity to interpret the question. You just take it direct, on the dot. You're a lot like Ayanami, and that's not a good thing. You need to be able to think around the question. I could've just as easily inferred if you were willing to hurt the person to get her back if she were ever in that situation. You're not even strong enough to think properly in normal circumstances. What hope could you have helping her?"

Shinji simply stared at him dumbfounded and utterly speechless for sometime before Jon spoke again this time more scathingly, "What, no retorts? No come backs? What the fuck are you, a mindless shell? Because all I see in front of me is an ass that has a heart, but no mind, or guts for that fucking matter. Here I thought that you'd be at least being able to answer my bloody question by saying that you'd be able to hurt the bastard," he got up and pulled Shinji up as he held him by the collar of his shirt, "But **nooooo**, you simply stare at me and say that you don't know. I'm sorry, but you really are an idiot if you can't even respond with enough conviction to say that you'd hurt the guy, or try to."

"Pilot Dang, stop it." Both boys nearly jumped and looked at the open door to see Rei staring at the two of them intently, but more coldly at Jon. Rei approached the two of them and reached out to remove Jon's hand.

Jon's mind worked something out that may work and grabbed Rei's hand as he pulled her towards him, brought her arm behind her back and pressed it upwards as he held her in a headlock.

"Rei!" Shinji cried out, as Jon started to back away towards the door.

"What now, Ikari-san?" Jon growled out, "The hypothetical situation has become reality. What are you going to-_OH SHIT_!" Jon instantly released Rei and pushed her out of the way as Shinji lunged at him with his fist. However Jon's combat instincts kicked in as he grabbed the offending hand and held it in the same manner he did with Rei and pressed him against the wall.

"I'll take that you'd be willing to kill, Ikari-san," Jon stated in a calm voice, "I'm sorry, but unless put in the moment, you do not seem like the type to imagine, or give a straight answer. I'll be outside. I have a feeling you two need to talk things out." Jon released Shinji slowly and started to walk out, stopping in the doorway.

"Oh and one more thing, Ayanami-san, gomen nasai. I had to use you in my demonstration, but if you know Ikari-san as well as I believe you do, he would not have answered that one particular question. And I believe that you have heard everything, since I only heard two people enter your bedroom." He closed the door and his footsteps became fainter and fainter with each step. Rei looked to how Shinji was on his knees, his head against the wall. She approached him and placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

"Daijoubu desu ka?" Rei quietly asked.

"Oh my god…I…I could've killed him," Shinji muttered darkly to himself, "I wanted to kill him," he turned his head to face Rei, "I wanted to wring his neck! Not just get him off you, I wanted to hurt him, I wanted to kill him, and make him suffer for what he did! I'm a horrible person. How I can I living knowing that I have such feelings inside me?" Shinji immediately buried his face in his hands as he began to sob uncontrollably. Rei didn't know what to do. Shinji was pretty emotional, and despite her familiarity with emotions thanks to all the help she has received, she still does not know how to properly handle this sort of situations. Yet again, it was one of the many forms of social interacts she was deprived of prior of 3I, and had not been given a chance to experience all of the various forms of interaction since 3I.

Hoping changing the subject would help, she brought up a topic that might help, "Ikari-kun, do you…do you love me?" Shinji immediately stopped crying as he looked up into Rei's eyes, to see her stare back at him impassively, yet her eyes showed curiosity, and what he could have sworn as longing as well.

He sniffed a few times as he tried to string together a response, "Well uh…you see Ayanami-san…uh…what I…meant to say was…well…" he signed as he hung his head, "Hai."

Rei gently smiled and reached out as she lightly caressed Shinji's wet cheek, "That is reason enough for your actions." Shinji shot up as he sat straight and stared back at Rei, shock written on his face.

"How…how can my feelings for your justify for me wanting to kill Jon?"

"The same reason why you would kill to protect your family," a new voice replied. The two of them looked at the door to see Jon standing there, his arms crossed and leaning against the doorframe.

"What?"

"Don't you get it Ikari-san?" giving Shinji a gentle smile, "When the person you love, or in fact someone or something that you hold dear to your heart, you will have a tendency to get it back. Depending on how strong your beliefs are, you will either choose to only hurt the person, or you will drop your morals and will try to kill the guy until your important person or object is free, or you will kill them outright. I've been put in that situation, and I've almost killed a rapist, until he released my girlfriend. That's how strong my love for her was. Yours runs much, much deeper. You two have been through so much. I know you'd do the same should Soryu-san be placed in the same position."

"Someone talking about me?" a smug voice shot out. Jon turned around to see that Asuka and Natasha had just left their room, both of them wearing different attire. Asuka had simply put on her school uniform as it was the easiest thing to wear during the rush, and now was sporting a blue tank top and pair of khaki shorts, and her hair was back to its old style, with the neural clips on the top of her head. Natasha had her hair still braided, but was now wearing a black knee length skirt and a green sleeveless blouse, with the Russian flag on the left chest.

"Nothing really, just seeing if he had a backbone," Jon cheerily replied, "However just be glad you two were in your room. Damn Ikari-san here packed a punch," then started to mutter in English, "_Fuck he's strong_."

Natasha smirked, "_Language Jon, watch your language._" Jon jumped in surprise, banging the back of his head against the doorframe and slumped down, as he rubbed the back of his head, as he started to mutter cuss words under his breath in English.

Asuka smirked, "_Now is that a way to speak in front of 3 lovely ladies?_" Jon looked up in surprise for a moment before sighing in exasperation. He got up, and walked back into the living room, still rubbing the back of his head. Shinji and Rei could only stare in utter confusion as the three of them spoke in English, a language they could not understand. It was rather interesting to see Jon hurt himself, yet the fact they could not understand killed the humour.

"Hey why don't you two 'ladies' leave those two alone for awhile," Jon called out from the living room, "They need to talk about some things."

"Nani?" Asuka called out, then eyeing them suspiciously, "No way am I living the baka hentai alone with Rei, just so that he can work out his perverted fantasies!"

"Asuka!" Shinji screamed out indignantly.

A groan could be heard, "Honestly, leave them alone. It's a bit personal, that's why I left. Now leave them alone for once could ya Soryu-san? By the way, do you mind if I call you Asuka? I'd rather drop formalities if I can." Asuka gave them one last glare before she huffed and left, saying Jon could call her that.

Natasha gave the two a warm smile, "I hope it works out," and then closed the door.

"So just why did you tell us to leave them alone?" Asuka griped as she flopped down on the floor after pulling out a cushion to sit on from the nearby hidden closet next to the entrance hallway.

"It's a private matter," Jon simply replied as he slumped back against the wall in the only real corner, opposite the TV's corner and pulled out an mp3 player from his backpack.

"Asuka, you really shouldn't pry into private matters," Natasha stated as she grabbed another cushion and sat in front of the TV, "Just be glad no one is prying you like what the 15th did." She then turned to the TV and turned it out and started to flick through the channels.

Asuka on the other hand felt a pain, of what the 15th Angel did. She remembered the entire mind rape, and how it showed her so many things that she didn't want to see. However she was glad that at least she was able to get over it now because of her weekly therapy sessions. They as of late have helped her calm her down as she little by little let her old self go, and try to be kinder to others. Yet she always hounded on Shinji, but not so much anymore, and nowadays it was mostly playful bantering, common between siblings, which she had grown to accept. She was attracted to Shinji, but found that he bore feelings towards her, but they were more of sibling attraction. But she was fine, as the more she thought about it recently, the more she saw that their personalities would probably clash really badly. Yet a small part of her hoped that something could work out, but she kept that side in check.

Seeing that lunch was not going to be served by Shinji for some time, "So what are we going to do in terms of lunch?"

"Let's see what we have first," Jon mumbled lazily as he got up and headed into the kitchen. For a few minutes, Asuka and Natasha could hear the sounds of cupboards being opened and closed as Jon looked through them. She suddenly realized that neither of them had yet to see Misato's food collection, and she was wondering how Jon would react. That and she saw Misato drag herself out of her room, wearing a yellow t-shirt and blue short shorts. She made herself comfortable, and waited.

And waited…

Door opens

And waited…

Crack

And waited…

Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp "YAHAAAAAA! KEHHHHHHHHHHHH! Just what I needed!"

"_WHAT THE FUCK? HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? BEER FUCKING GALOR HERE! AND HOW THE HELL CAN YOU DRINK THIS MUCH CRAP?_" Asuka smirked and looked at Natasha who had turned and looked in the direction of the kitchen, her eyebrows raised.

"That would be Misato's beer collection," Asuka yelled back, "And you just witnessed her beginning of her daily beer binge!"

Jon then yelled back, now in Japanese again, "But…h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-how can some one l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-like M-m-m-misato-san d-d-drink so much without suffering a-a-alcohol poisoning!"

"Why don't you ask her? She's just right there."

"Oi I'm keeping my bloody fucking distance from this crap." He then walked out of the kitchen, followed by a hiss from the fridge in the corner in the living room.

Jon looked up to see Pen-pen waddle out, screaming as he pointed a finger at said penguin, "_HOLY SHIT! IS THAT A PENGUIN!_"

Natasha who had long turned back towards the TV instantly whipped her head back towards the kitchen, "What the hell, a penguin?"

"Oh that would be Misato's warm water penguin, Pen-pen," Asuka nonchalantly replied. Natasha instantly turned to her left, staring at the opposite wall, to see Jon staring down the penguin named Pen-pen.

"Wark," it stated before politely bowing as it stubby body could before facing Natasha. It looked her over for a moment before giving an approving sound, and bowing again, and then walked up to the fridge, opened the door, grabbed a can of beer, and then headed out into the living room, letting out another 'Wark' before disappearing into his home.

"Uh…what just happened, Natasha?" Jon asked, highly confused.

"I think Pen-pen just approved of our presence," Natasha replied in a similarly confused voice.

"Sounds like Pen-pen approves," Misato called out, as another crack could be heard from the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it, you'll get use to him in a few days," Asuka's stated, waving her hand carelessly.

She then looked towards the hallway curiously, "What could be taking them so long?"

"Soryu-san, don't bug them," Jon muttered as he scratched his head, "At least not yet. They seriously need to work some things out, and I'll be damned if anyone disturbs them." 'If those two don't work out, all that therapy Shinji went through will go straight to hell.'

"Fine, fine," Asuka replied as Jon made his way back into the kitchen, and started work on the sandwiches

Soon enough Misato came out of the kitchen and looked around with a beer in hand, "So where's Shinji and Rei?"

"They would be in Shinji's room," Natasha replied as she relaxed back into her spot, and continued to watch TV. Misato simply shrugged and pulled out a 'chair' for herself and sat herself next to Natasha as they watched TV. Seeing that there was nothing to do until Jon finished the sandwiches, Asuka relocated herself to the front of the TV and watched.

Some time later, "Sandwiches are done," Jon stated as he came out of the kitchen and approached Shinji's room, knocking on the door, "Ikari-san, Ayanami-san, lunch is ready." He could hear quiet acknowledgement, and then left, leaving the two of them alone.

"What are those two doing in there?" Misato inquired from the kitchen.

"It's personal business; I'm not going to-_WHAT THE FUCK_?" Jon exclaimed as he watched Misato chug yet another can of beer.

Jon and Natasha could only watch in horror as Misato downed the whole bloody can of beer, letting out that same call from earlier, followed by, "Oh yeah, that hit the spot."

"Goodbye," Jon quickly stated as he grabbed a plate, 4 sandwich halves, and left the room.

**And that concludes Chapter III, Explanations and Moving In. Next time, Toji finally comes in; Kensuke will be drooling over Jon for military stuff, and best of all, the Weapons Training/Testing. Sorry to those who want battles, but I want to keep the timeline following normally. I want to actually kill sometime first with some other stuff, plus I don't want to have Jon and Natasha's characters to be in the dark. I hope that this gives most people a general idea of what Jon is like, and either next chapter, or the following one. Well anyways, that's all from me, see you guys in the next chapter.**


	5. The Training Begins

**Inescapable Grasp of Eva, Gather of the Children**

**Chapter IV The Training Begins**

**I see that a lot of you people like what you're reading. That's good, very good indeed. I apologize in advance if the chapter is a bit dull, possibly even rushed or not well thought out, but I'm suffering writers block in terms of this chapter. Hopefully the chapter will be better.**

**CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT! READ THIS IF YOU ARE INTERESTED!**

**To those who are interested in my contest, it is simple. I believe that I have given fairly good description of Jon, Natasha, and Units 05 and 06. So here's my proposal. Anyone, who can draw Jon with Unit 05, and Natasha with Unit 06, and I deem the drawing worthy, that person, meaning that two people can win this, will either have a chapter dedicated to them.**

**OR**

**They will have the opportunity to create the 9th and 10th Children for my story that will make appearances in Part II War Against Hell. Those people will also be privy to some of the future details of my story, but only to the extent of their characters futures.**

**So if you are interested, please state in your review that you are interested, and then I can setup a deadline, based on the level of interest. I will add additional detail, on my forum, if there are enough people interested.  
**

**With that aside, on with the chapter.**

"Whoa, hold the phone there Shinji," the jock yelled, "Are you saying that I have to pilot that thing again; the thing that literally cost me an arm and a leg, which I just so happen to re-grow after Third Impact?"

"Uh…yeah that sounds about right," Shinji meekly replied, under the horrified and surprised gaze of his friend.

"No way man, uh, uh, no way is I going back in that thing," Toji strictly replied, forming a cross with his arms, "The day that I go back in that thing is the day someone holds me at gun point."

Click

Toji instantly gulped and looked behind to see Jon with a wild grin on his face as he held his 9mm pistol to Toji's face.

Toji laughed nervously, "Hi there, I'll pilot for you."

"Hmm…" Jon replied, rubbing his chin, and then flashed another big smile, "Sorry for the trouble, it wasn't even loaded."

"DANG-SAN!" Shinji shrieked in mild anger and horror at Jon's sick joke, with Toji sighing in utter relief while Jon was laughing his ass off, "You scared me and Toji half to death!"

"I'm…I'm…I'm sorry man, I just had to do that, besides, I never load this thing for safety purposes," Jon replied as he calmed down, "I'm not that stupid. Besides," he pulled out a clip and placed it into the slot, "If I loaded it properly the first time, you would've heard two clicks like so," pulling back on the casing to arm the gun, a click to be heard, as Jon released the casing, as another clicking sound followed.

"Now, it's loaded," he then began to disarm the weapon, "Anyways, have fun convincing him. Oh and sorry for the scare, and if I see you on Friday, I know that Shinji has convinced you. Later then." Jon holstered his pistol in his pocket, and started to walk away.

"Umm…who was that?" Toji inquired, pointing towards Jon's shrinking form.

"That's my bunkmate, Jon Dang," Shinji replied with a sigh, "He's a military transfer from Canada."

"DID YOU SAY SOMEONE HERE IS A MILITARY TRANSFER!" a voice suddenly cried out in excitement besides Shinji and Toji, scaring the daylight out of both of them as they jumped back in surprise.

"Kensuke, what the?" Toji sputtered in complete surprise.

"Where did you come from?" Shinji requested, clutching his chest.

"I just got here when you said something abut a military transfer," he excitedly replied, "So where is he or she? I must meet this transfer!"

"My roommate," Shinji replied as he and Toji tried to calm down the otaku, "He's a transfer from Canada. He's the 6th Child and is the pilot of Unit 05."

"CANADA!" the otaku shrieked in absolute glee, "CANDA, AS IN THE COUNTRY THAT'S BEEN DEVELOPING POSITRON TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PAST 6 MONTHS!" Shinji could only nod as Toji look at his friend in mild amusement, "SHOW ME TO HIM!" he suddenly demanded.

"Okay…" Shinji replied as he pulled out his cell phone and dialled Jon's.

"YOU COULD'VE JUST YELLED YOU KNOW!" a voice called out. Everyone looked behind Toji to see Jon running up to them as he waved his arm. Shinji simply shrugged as they watched Jon run up to them, wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday, plus a black vest, with four pockets.

"Greetings," he began as soon he was close enough, "I'm Jon Dang. And you guys are?"

"Well I'm assuming you know me," the jock stated, putting his hands behind his head, "Since apparently you said something about seeing me this Friday."

"Kensuke Aida," the otaku snapped out, as he came to attention and saluted him. Jon raised an eyebrow for a moment before snickering. Shinji and Toji looked at him curiously.

Seeing their curious faces, Jon walked up to Kensuke and said, "Put your arm down Aida-san. I'm an NCO, meaning I don't salute anyone below the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. At least in terms of Canadian military."

"Oh," was all Kensuke could say as he brought his arm down. Jon merely smirked.

"Wait a second…how old are you?" Toji suddenly inquired.

"Um…why are you asking me this, Suzuhara-san?" Jon asked back, raising an eyebrow.

"You're way too tall to be a 14 or 15 year old," he replied as he started to crack his knuckles, "Now answer my question, how old are you?"

"18 this November," he casually replied.

"18! Holy shit you're young!" Kensuke shrieked, as he started to frantically pull out a data chip for his camera.

Jon shrugged, "I'm only in the Canadian Air Force because I was the 100th one to be selected as a candidate for Project-E. It's as simple as that. Otherwise I'd be at home, in my 2nd to last year as an Air Cadet, and I'd also be studying at University of British Columbia. But instead, I'm here, in Tokyo-3, where I'll be studying with you guys. Apparently my…academics are not up to snuff here so I'm stuck with you guys."

"SUGOI, YOU'RE PART OF THE AIR FORCE!" Kensuke excitedly stated as he brought up his camera and started recording, "Please, you have to tell me what it's like on military bases? What kind of vehicles and weapons do they have there? What about the Positron Research Facilities? Please, you have to tell me all of it!"

"Sorry, I can't do that?" was his reply.

"But why?" the dejected fan-boy whined.

"You're inquiring about top secret material," he replied, "I only know about this stuff because I'm an Eva pilot. If I divulge any of this information, I'd have to kill you, and that would force Toji to pilot to keep him alive. And as for Shinji, he's the pilot of Unit 01, and son of the Commander. That and I have faith that Shinji wouldn't go babbling about anything I say. You on the other hand," pointing at the teary-eyed otaku, "Seem like the type to say too much. Therefore, I'm keeping my lips sealed. Is there anything else? I have to head to NERV for a few harmonics tests with Ayanami-san, Soryu-san, and Kanatnikov-san. Plus I still have to retrieve some stuff that's due to arrive today."

"Uh…no that's about it Dang-san," Shinji calmly replied. Jon opened his mouth to respond when his cell phone rang.

He pulled it out of his pocket, read the number and frowned, "Misato-san is so going to kill me," he muttered, "Anyways; I'll see you guys later." He turns around and started running towards NERV as he answered his phone.

"Well that was interesting," Toji commented as they watched Jon run, while trying to keep the phone a safe distance from his head, "But I like him. He seems interesting, plus he seems to be a nice guy."

"I guess," Shinji replied, "Anyways, can you please pilot? There's no one else that's qualified for Unit 03. Dr. Akagi even said that it's not likely that the Unit will accept anyone but you. You have to pilot for us."

"Well…you do have nothing to use against me this time," he commented as he pondered upon the situation, "But why now? Why the sudden need to have me pilot again?"

"I really don't know all the details, but from what tou-san said, SEELE, the organization behind NERV originally is mad and wants to get their hands on Unit 01, and the Lance of Longinus, and they're willing to destroy this city to get to them. So I'm assuming my father wants as many pilots as he can to defend the city."

"Well…" Toji was having a hard time making his decision. Albeit he was curious of what it's like to properly pilot an Evangelion, the memories of what happened last time were still haunting him slightly, thus causing a struggle in his mind.

Seeing that Shinji needed help in convincing his friend, Kensuke pondered for a moment, "Well…you could pilot to protect your sister, plus then there's the Class Rep you've been eyeing on for the quite a while."

Toji suddenly blushed as he walloped the otaku's head, "And what's that suppose to mean, eyeing on the class rep?"

"Admit it Toji, you have a thing for Horaki-san," Shinji stated in support to Kensuke's 'cause', which only serve to rile up Toji even further as he stared the Third Child down. Shinji however stared back, as he waited for his friends reply.

Finally after a good 5-10 minutes of staring, Toji sighed, "Fine, I'll pilot the thing. HOWEVER, don't get the idea that I'm doing this to impress girls."

"Wouldn't even think of it," the two nervously replied as they watched Toji crack his knuckles.

Meanwhile at NERV, Asuka, Jon, Natasha, and Rei sat in orange the test entry plugs, as they underwent harmonics testing. As each of them sat in their entry plugs, technicians in the control room collected data. Ritsuko and Maya looked over the harmonics as the test continued.

"Number 00 and 06 have reached the contamination border, that's the limit," Maya reported.

"Hmm…Number 02 and 05 seems to be able to take it," Ritsuko commented as she looked at the plugs, "Decrease the plug depth by 0.4."

"05 has reached contamination zone," Maya reported again after some time, "That's it, he's at his limit, but it seems that Asuka can still go on."

"She's definitely improved," Ritsuko stated in mild surprise, "I wonder if it's got to do with her therapy. She normally doesn't have this much mental strength. Let's see how much she can take. Decrease by 0.2."

"Ryoukai." Lt. Ibuki typed along her console as she decreased the depth. She kept an eye on the monitor which indicated their mental toxicity levels. Soon enough however, Asuka too reached her limit.

"Impressive," Ritsuko commented as she looked at another console that displayed the current sync ratios.

FIRST C. REI AYANAMI: 78.1

SECOND C. S. ASUKA LANGLEY: 84.2

SIXTH C. B.L. JON DANG: 80.1

SEVENTH C. NATASHA KANATNIKOV: 78.4

"Wow, a lot better since pre-Third Impact," said Ritsuko, in wonder, "Hmm…I wonder what has brought her ratio up. She's normally in the 60s at best."

"Anything else they have to do today Rits? Or are they free to go?" Misato inquired as she stared at the entry plugs.

"No, they're free to go, once they've seen their scores if they wish to. Maya, release the plugs." Instantly, all four plug hatches opened, allowing all of them to breath in fresh air over the recycled air in the plugs.

"Good job everyone," Ritsuko called out over the intercom, "Proceed into the control room if you wish to see the results from the harmonics tests." Soon enough, everyone had filed in, and waited patiently for their scores.

"Well anyways, as usual, Asuka has the highest ratio, of 84.2." Asuka smirked proudly, holding her head up high as she fanned out her hair in front of Jon, who stared past her, not even acknowledging her actions.

"Sergeant, your score is 80.1." Asuka's celebration grinded to a halt as she stared at Jon incredulously; surprised that someone was so close to her score.

"Pilot Kanatnikov with a score of 78.4, Ayanami with a score of 78.1," the doctor finished as she noticed Natasha smirking when she heard her score.

"Thank you for the scores ma'am," Jon instantly stated, surprising Asuka, who was in front of him, "If there is nothing else, are we dismissed?" Ritsuko nodded. Jon then proceeded to head to the change room, saluting Misato as he passed her, who only nodded in response. After all the pilots left, Misato left a sigh and stared up at the ceiling, with a highly annoyed face.

"Kami-sama whey did you have to have a military flyboy as one of our pilots," she grumbled.

"And what's wrong with him?" Ritsuko inquired, with a smirk. Maya just smiled as she worked the console, not wanting to upset the Sub Commander.

"I swear, I could almost say that he's schizophrenic," Misato muttered, as the two of them headed to the cafeteria, "But it's just his professionalism talking whenever he's here, or at least in uniform. I swear, when he came in here with just day clothes, he was completely normal. And then he comes back with his plug suit he's all military again."

"Well you did notice he has his rank insignia right?" Ritsuko asked casually as they walked.

"Yeah? So? What's your point?"

Ritsuko sighed, "His plug suit is technically another uniform, since it not only bears his rank, but also his squadron name, and number. So naturally he'll consider it as such, and so, he'll act accordingly, based on the situation and his state of dress."

"You know, sometimes I think you're too smart for your own good," Misato stated lazily as the two of them took a couple of seats, cups of coffee in their hands.

"Oh?" Ritsuko responded, "Then how about this, ask Shinji, Rei, and Asuka separately, on why Jon seems to be professional whenever he's in his plug suit. I'm willing to bet 300, 000 yen, 100,000 for each of them, that they know why he does so. So if say Shinji and Rei gets the answer and Asuka doesn't, you would owe me 200,000, and you would get to keep 100,000. So what do you say is that a bet?"

"Oh you're on Ritsuko," Misato chortled, "You're so on."

"Your loss if they answer correctly though," she casually replied.

_4 Day Later_

"What are you doing here stooge," Asuka scathingly growled, as she came out of the change room to see Toji talking with Shinji, both of them in their plug suits.

"I'm here to pilot Unit 03, she-devil," Toji calmly replied.

"What?" Asuka shrieked, "You're piloting again? But, that shouldn't work! You're a stooge, a pervert, not even worthy of such a title. Why the hell are they letting you-?"

"Pilot Soryu, cut the name calling," Jon snapped out, surprising Toji and Asuka.

"Oh hey there Jon, how's it-"

"Pilot Suzuhara, will address me as Dang," he snapped out again as he walked past them, and proceeded towards the cages.

"What's his problem? And in fact what happened to the nice guy we met on Monday?"

"Sergeant Dang acts in accordance to his state of dress," Rei calmly replied as she exited the change room.

"Yeah, I asked him about that yesterday, he said something about professionalism and all," Shinji replied as they headed towards the cages as well.

"Really, and here I thought that he was simply being an ass," Asuka darkly commented, feeling extremely angry that she was so easily shot down again, this time in front of Toji.

"Asuka, are you saying that you didn't consider the fact his military training might be the cause of his actions?" Shinji inquired, surprise in his face.

"No…why should I?" As they walked down the corridors, they noticed a shrill screaming coming from one of the offices ahead of them. Curiosity getting the better of them, they looked in to see Misato begrudgingly hand Ritsuko 200,000 yen.

"You win Ritsuko. Shinji and Rei knew it for a while."

"Hmm…not completely, after all, Asuka remained clueless." All four simply stared at the two them, thee were wide eyed, for a moment before heading off towards the cages.

"So…they actually betted on who actually knew why Jon acts the way he does sometimes?" Toji asked once they were clear of the office.

"It appears so, Pilot Suzuhara," Rei calmly replied. They remained silent as they proceeded to the elevator that would take them up to the cages. As they ascended, they simply stared into the wall, until it turned into a cage wall, where they looked out to see all 6 Evangelions primed and ready, all just requiring their entry plugs to be inserted in order to come to life.

"Unit 03's been fine all this time?" Toji inquired, as he started at the pure black mecha.

"Negative," Rei replied stoically, "It has only been reconstructed some time ago during the past year. Today's activation test and weapons test will be the first time it has activated since the incident with the 13th Angel." Toji immediately shuddered as he remembered how he lost his arm and leg due to the 'incident'. It was something he was not all too happy to re-experience.

When they reached the cages, they were greeted by the sight of 6 entry plugs ready to go, with Jon and Natasha mounting them. The other 4 immediately proceeded towards their appropriate plugs and mounted them as they prepared to pilot their Evas. After everyone had settled in and if need be secured their harnesses, all 6 hatches immediately seal shut, as the pilots begin to experience the familiar inclined descent towards the Evas. Each feel a minor jolt as the machine carrying the plugs came to a stop as the plugs make contact, to only feel the familiar twisting motion as the plugs are screwed in. Silently the pilots waited as they listened to all the various procedures taking place, such as flooding the pods with LCL, charging it, first level contact and such. However most of it all were meaningless as they did not require to order out activation orders unless absolutely necessary. Soon all the pods flashed brilliant lights of colour, eventually displaying what the Eva saw.

"All Evangelions are active, ready to launch on your orders Sub Commander," Lt. Commander Hyuuga reported from his station.

"Evangelion, HASHIN!" Misato bellowed from the Operations Director position. All 6 Evas bolted upwards along the various launch shafts, all the pilots experiencing the G-forces in very different ways. Some enjoying it while others felt like being crushed, while one remained indifferent about the experience. All 6 Evas soon reach their destination within the Geo-Front, where the two large cargo containers that came with Jon waited.

"Alright guys, this operation falls to Sergeant Dang," Misato stated as her face and the face of everyone else was displayed in the plugs, "He shall lead you through everything: How to load, zero your sights, stances, everything. This is his operation, plus you will get to see what kind of a leader he can be, so give him the proper respect guys. Have fun." With the wave of her hand, her face disappeared.

"Well let's get this started," Jon began, "I've already briefed Kanatnikov, so she will prepare the range while we go over the weapons in the containers. First off, remove the B-Type Equipment, as most of the weapons cannot be used with the equipments hindering the mounts." All the pilots nodded as they discharged the fins and dropped them carelessly on the ground.

"Good, now follow me." Jon led them to the nearest cargo container, and walked up to the far left of the container, pressed a few buttons and opened a large section, filled with Positron Cannons. They looked pretty much the same, the colour configuration was like the original, blue and white, except that at the back end had some sort of extension that had plugs built in, the barrel was longer, and there was also what appeared to be the shoulder fins. Each of them also had numbers printed in bold on the fins.

Jon then grabbed his cannon, and mounted it on its arm, ensuring that the shoulder guard sat on his shoulder properly, before pressing a button. Behind, the extension snapped as it connected itself to the umbilical port on the back of the Eva.

"Well start with these first," Jon began, "These are the easiest to configure, and most of you are already familiar with their usages. So please pick up the appropriate weapon and we may begin." All the pilots nodded and proceeded with their Eva's as they grabbed the cannons, and with the help of Jon, ensured that their weapons were properly mounted before plugging them into the umbilical port.

"Now, normally the batteries for the Cyclotron Cannons only last for roughly 15 shots," Jon began again, "But now with the S2 engines, these weapons have limitless power. Now, these weapons have two settings. Burst shot, and cannon mode. Do not, and I mean do not, use cannon mode, unless you want to kill every last one of us. We've managed to make it that each shot does not react with the surrounding matter, but that is not doable with cannon mode. Believe that you are all familiar with the explosive reaction when matter comes in contact with anti-matter?" Everyone simply nodded.

"Moving on, the operations for these weapons are the same. You simply point and shoot. The purpose of this exercise allows us to calibrate every weapon along with allowing me to see what kind of skills you possess, and which style of combat is most suited for you. Be it be assault, defence, support, it will depend on which weapons you specialise most in. However, you will not know what I've decided, until we actually go into combat. Now, what we are going to do is that the other cargo container has a set of gun drones, and we're going to use them as targets. Their purpose is to fly around, and you simply attack them. They have shield generators, which will dissipate the positron on contact, but will consider it as a hit. I will do the exercise first, to allow you to get the idea."

With that Jon walked into a clearing in the Geo-Front and called out to Natasha, "Pilot Kanatnikov, launch 10 gun drones." Although she did not respond, 10 flying-saucer shaped drones flew into the air, each of them armed with what appeared to be automatic weapons mounted on the bottom. Jon took up a stance, as the drones took up a formation. Natasha tapped a few more keys, and the drones dispersed, and opened fired. Being quick on his feet, Jon jumped forward, and immediately turned around as he fired three shots, successfully hitting his targets. He immediately dashed forward as the drones attacked, him, but was then forced to make a hard right as a set of drones appeared before him and behind him. As he made the hard right, he turned around, and fired another three shots, reducing down to 4 drones. The others watched in amazement of Jon's accuracy and control, but figured that he had done this before.

Soon enough Jon finished the scenario, and walked up to the others, "That's basically it. You will fight those things one at a time, with each weapon. Unit 00, you're up first. And just to warn everyone right now, it's going to be a long day. We have a lot of weapons to go through."

Jon was not kidding when he said the day was going to be long. That morning they had started training at 9:00am that morning, and now it was 6:00pm, and they had just finished the last of the weapons testing, with the only break being lunch. They had gone through Positron Cannons, Positron Assault Rifles, shoulder mounted Positron Assault Cannon, which was a multi-barrelled weapon, the two new A.T. Cannons, which wrapped a piece of one's A.T. Field around the shot, and various others, including sniper rifles, along with the testing of Jon's new sniper rifle which used the same properties as the A.T. Cannons.

All the pilots had a quiet shower, and had left the change room to see Misato standing outside, waiting for them, "Hey guys good work out. But I'm sorry to say, you have one more day of training." Everyone save for Rei instantly groaned, as Misato looked upon them with sympathy.

"We still need to have you guys re-familiarise with piloting your Evangelions," she explained, "It's just one more day, and I promise, we'll have your retraining done at the same time. It only takes roughly 2, maybe 3 hours at most to go through the training."

"What are me and Jon suppose to do while they are retraining?" Natasha inquired from behind the rest of the group.

Misato pondered for a moment, "Well I suppose you guys could do some combat training…"

"Misato-san," Jon interjected, "Instead of a training session, how about we have a contest."

"A contest, in what way Dang?" Misato inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"An excellent idea, Sergeant," a voice called out, revealing to be Ritsuko, as she walked along the hallway, "We can test the pilot's endurance. See how they can last in combat, virtually without rest. We'd rotating the pairing, until everyone has had a chance with one another, non-stop, and then the two with the overall best times, would get to fight against each other."

"I don't know," Misato replied, scepticism in her voice, "Considering the amount of power and money that would be required to repair the Eva's, I'm not so sure."

"Don't worry," Ritsuko assured, "We'll be using the new simulators, so it will be relatively safe."

"Relatively safe?" Misato and Jon asked at the same time, raising their eyebrows.

Ritsuko nodded, "Yes, because there's still the fact you will suffer pain, plus there's always the risk of berserker kicking in, because the Eva's themselves will be wired into the system, to make the battles realistic as possible."

"Are you sure that's a good idea," Misato asked concernedly, "I mean, what if they seriously scrap each other in combat? Won't that result them being hospitalised?"

"Not likely, unless someone hacked into the system," Ritsuko assured, "And believe me, anyone who tried to hack would have a hell of a time, with all the various false entries, traps, and firewalls the MAGI has erected."

"I guess we'll have to trust you," Misato finally conceded after a few minutes of personal debilitation.

"Well anyways, excuse me; I must look over the data from the training. Good evening." Ritsuko then walked past the pilots, and took a left, and disappeared.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm heading back," Jon stated after a moment of silence, "I need to practice playing my guitar." With that, Jon turned on his MP3 player, placed the buds in his ears and headed towards the parking lot.

"Dang is sure carefree whenever he's not in his uniform, isn't he?" Natasha commented as she watched Jon leave.

"Eh whatever," Asuka muttered, "He pisses me off sometimes."

"Why? Because he's better than you, or is it because he's your leader?" Natasha shot back.

"BETTER THAN ME!" Asuka shrieked indignantly, "NO WAY IN HELL IS HE BETTER THAN ME! I'LL SHOW YOU! I'LL MOP THE FLOOR WITH THAT GUY!"

Natasha smirked, "Are you sure, I agree, you are highly skilled, however, he knows martial arts which he can put into practice, while piloting his Eva. You on the other hand, know only how to pilot. You lack any real combat skills, except the ones you've taught yourself during your experience. That, and Jon's self taught martial arts has had years to be refined, and improved. You on the other hand, haven't sat in that cockpit for over a year, let alone practice any combats skills."

'Ouch,' Misato, Shinji, and Toji thought at the same time. They knew that even with all the therapy, Asuka was still Asuka. She still had her pride, but despite the fact that she acknowledges her pain and doesn't hide behind it, she's still competitive as ever, and to be shot down like that was a serious blow to her ego.

Asuka however was dumbstruck. Natasha had nailed the difference in skill and power between her and Jon, and that downright hurt. To be told that she couldn't win in such an efficient manner left Asuka speechless, for she couldn't see a way to get past this, or even counter it. Natasha had hammered the nail squarely on the head, and it went right in without a hitch.

"Look," Natasha continued, "I know I've probably nailed that a bit too harsh, but unless you acknowledge the fact that you two are on different levels, you will lose in a more embarrassing manner. You will think too rashly, and will more or less screw yourself over. That's the thing about battle, you must be able to keep a cool head, otherwise you will be doom to failure, and possibly an embarrassing defeat. So heed my words, and think about this. Anyways, I'm taking a walk, so I'll walk home." She nodded towards all of them, and then made her way out.

Misato placed a hand on Asuka's shoulder which she immediately shoved away, "Don't touch me," she growled.

"Asuka," Misato began.

"NO!" Asuka yelled as she backed away from everyone, "I don't need your help! You couldn't help anyways. I just need to…" however she never finished her sentence as she immediately ran off towards the cages. Misato started to run after Asuka, when she was suddenly stopped by someone grabbing her arm. She looked back to see Rei had grabbed her.

"Rei?"

"She needs to work this out, Sub Commander," Rei stated, "However, I do not believe our presence would help in the situation. She needs time to work out her feelings. So give her the chance to do such."

"I guess you're right," Misato agreed, as she looked sadly at the direction Asuka had run off. Shinji then took off, and quickly caught up with Natasha, hoping to get a few answers from her.

"Kanatnikov-san," Shinji called out, "Matte!"

Natasha turned around and looked at Shinji, "Yes?"

"Why did you say what you said to her?" he immediately inquired as he caught up.

"Although I admire her prowess," she began as she started to walk again, "She has too much pride, and is over confident. She needs to be shot down every so often; otherwise she will blow it in real combat. That plus with Jon's appointment as the leader, is a major blow to her psychology, regardless of the therapy."

"But I thought the therapy would help with her pride," said Shinji, highly confused by her statement.

She however shook her head, "The purpose of hers, is to deal with the death of her mother. Something like personal prowess and pride is not something you can just talk away. It is what makes Asuka, Asuka. It is as simple as that. Simply put however, with Jon as the leader, it makes her feel like she's inferior, and with Jon constantly stepping on her because she's becoming overly assertive, she takes that as a challenge against her. So unless she is kept in check, she will do something overly rash that could, endanger not only herself, but possibly the rest of us."

"Wow, you have a deep view of things, Kanatnikov-san," Shinji commented as they rode the monorail that would take them up top.

"I call it as I see it," she calmly replied, "Jon is the one who tries to look at it deeper. He'll look at it more logically. That's one of his strengths as a leader. He can look at things from multiple perspectives, and takes all the information to formulate his opinion. You will notice that a lot whenever he's talking with a bunch of friends. Although I've seen him on forums, and he'll on respond every so often, which I find rather amusing sometimes."

"You seem to understand people well, Kanatnikov-san."

"Natasha."

"I'm sorry?"

"I'd rather you call me Natasha, Shinji," she replied, with a smile.

Shinji smile back, "Alright, Natasha-san."

"Drop the san please," she commented, "It's not a Japanese name, and I'm not comfortable with the san title anyways. And as for your comment, I'm a good judge of character. I can usually tell if a person is worthy of my trust after one or two conversations. Jon on the other hand, he earned my trust in battle. He is cool, and calculating, and ensures that everything goes well, or goes to hell. That's one of his skills as a leader. Tries to see as much, to avoid as many problems. But there will always be hitches to a plan, but he adapts. That's one of his strengths."

"You seem to talk a lot about Dang-san," he commented again, "You like him or something?"

"You could say that," she replied, "He just reminds me a lot of my brother. Skilled tactician, skilled warrior, kind heart, Jon has many qualities that reminds me a lot of my brother. But in the end, he is not my brother. My brother despised Games Workshop and their products, he listened to rock music, over the mixture of soft, j-rock, and such that Jon listens to, and he played the violin whereas Jon plays the electric and bass."

"Yeah, I was actually surprised when he brought home all that equipment," Shinji stated as he laughed.

"That's true," Natasha agreed, getting up as the rail came to a stop, "Anyways, enough about me and Jon, what about you? What are you like? We haven't gotten a chance to talk since I arrived last week, save for meals, which I must say, are excellently made."

Shinji immediately blushed at the commented, "A-arigatou, Natasha-san."

"What did I say about the titles?"

"Gomen nasai," he apologized, "I'm used to it. Ano…mind if I called you Natasha-chan?"

Natasha thought about it for a moment as she mumbled to her self, "Natasha-chan…" she tapped her chin a few more times as they walked before shrugging, "I suppose. It does have a nice ring to it I suppose."

Shinji sighed, "Well, as you already know, my otou-san is the Commander. I was left to live with my teacher when I was 5 or so, I don't really remember much about my childhood, except that it was dull. Then when I came here to Tokyo-3, it was all just pain, and more pain, as I fought against the angel. There isn't much to tell really, Natasha-chan. It's all in the reports, and they're all accurate."

"Ah, they may be accurate, but it's not the whole story," Natasha spoke, with a hint of all knowingness.

"Huh?"

"It's just a compiled report," she explained as they walked in the late afternoon sun, "I mean think about it. Reports usually consist of gathering information, sorting it out, and then compressing it by removing unneeded data. There's no life, just words on paper. So it's compiled based on information gathered from a primary source, thus making the report a secondary source. Now if I were to hear the story from you, not only am I hearing from a primary source, I'd be hearing your experiences. All the pain, the entire trauma, and even all the possible good times you've had during your time during the war. You understand?"

"Yeah I think so," Shinji replied, suddenly finding the urge to tell his story.

"Plus, in your case, it's almost therapeutic, because you can let it out. All your pain, the hurt and what not. You'd be able to let go of the pain easier, if you can share it. You hear?"

"Yeah," Shinji agreed, "Yeah, I think I do. Well to be honest, when I first stepped into Unit 01, it was quite an experience actually." And so Shinji and Natasha walked along the streets of Tokyo-3, as they regaled in Shinji's experience during the war.

**So how was that? Okay, for a rushed job, sucked, just crap, please give me your honest feedback. I live off this stuff, in terms of living as a writer. Your opinion is what gives life to this story. I need your feed back, so that I can continue to improve my writing, and continue to please your imaginations.**

**CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT! READ THIS IF YOU ARE INTERESTED!**

**To those who are interested in my contest, it is simple. I believe that I have given fairly good description of Jon, Natasha, and Units 05 and 06. So here's my proposal. Anyone, who can draw Jon with Unit 05, and Natasha with Unit 06, and I deem the drawing worthy, that person, meaning that two people can win this, will either have a chapter dedicated to them.**

**OR**

**They will have the opportunity to create the 9th and 10th Children for my story that will make appearances in Part II War Against Hell. Those people will also be privy to some of the future details of my story, but only to the extent of their characters futures.**

**So if you are interested, please state in your review that you are interested, and then I can setup a deadline, based on the level of interest.**

**Well anyways, that's all from me**

**Cheers Ja ne**


	6. Misato's Family

**Inescapable Grasp of Eva, Gather of the Children**

**Chapter V Misato's Family**

**Hey guys, sorry for the very long wait but I've had problems in school, lack of interest, and too many ideas to process properly. I have so many ideas that I can't really process it at this time, so chances are I won't be updating it for a long time.**

**Anyways, that's all in terms of my rant, please enjoy the chapter.**

"Stupid baka, they're all against me," muttered an angry Asuka as she stormed through the halls, "Don't they know I'm the best? I've been training with Eva the longest, I should get top spot. But **nooooooooooooo**, they had to place good old Sergeant Dang in command." She let out a frustrated groan, "Why the hell did they placed someone who doesn't know a thing about piloting Eva? It's not fair, it's not fair, IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!" she screamed as she slammed her foot down, as it resonated within the halls. She blinked and looked around to find herself on the umbilical bridge, in front of Unit 02.

She let out a sigh as she sat down in front of the unit, as she hugged her knees to her face, "Why? Why do they have to do this to me?" she asked. From anyone else's perspective, they'd think that she was talking to herself. But to those who knew the secrets behind the Evangelion, they knew she was talking to her unit. Respectively, which houses the soul of her mother, despite the fact it was horrendously damaged during the JSSDF assault against NERV.

"Mom, why did they pick him, and now me? Why mom? Why?" she asked as tears started to stream down their face, "I know I have my faults. I know that I can be aggressive, but why did they pick him over me? I've got the highest sync ratio, I've got the better skills, I've got the training, the experience, sure I don't mind Jon leading the training, he knows the weapons. But why, why the hell does he have to be leader?"

"He has the appropriate training and knowledge, Asuka-san," a monotonous voice replied. Asuka looked up to the right to see Rei, wearing a pair of black hip hugger jeans, and black sweater, approaching her.

Asuka immediately looked back at her Eva, a definite scowl on her face, "What do you want, Rei?"

"To see if you are well, Asuka-san," Rei calmly replied, now standing over the girl.

"Why? So you can rub it in my face?" she growled.

"To help you understand."

"What's there to understand? He got picked over me, the best."

"That may be," Rei began, as she reached out for Asuka's shoulder, "But Dang-san has-"

"Save it Wonder Girl!" she snapped out, slapping Rei's hand away.

"You must understand," Rei pressed on, kneeling next to the ego-bashed girl. "He is a skilled tactician, more suited for the leadership role, as is Kanatnikov-san. They lead because they are trained to. There are also downfalls to the position."

"What kind of downsides could there be, if you get the boss everyone around?"

"A leader can lose the follower's respect," she calmly replied. "However that is not one of them. You prefer to look out for yourself, correct?"

"Yeah, I'd rather have people watch my back, and not have to worry about them," she muttered, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Just answer and you shall understand." Rei calmly replied, "Do you enjoy paperwork?"

"Uh…not really I suppose."

"Do you enjoy formulating plans, under pressure?'"

"Well," she paused, as she thought back to the one time against the 9th Angel when it was releasing its acid, "actually, I don't mind that scenario."

Rei frowned slightly, but it went unnoticed to the untrained eye, "Allow me to rephrase. Do you enjoy formulating plans under attacked from possibly multiple targets?"

Asuka instantly cringed, "When you put it that way…" she paused when she thought back to when she fought the original Eva Series, "actually…In all honesty, I like being able to formulate plans. It's kinda fun actually, especially during my battle against the Eva Series. 9-on-1, not the best of odds, but I almost had them, to a certain extent."

Rei nodded in agreement, "Granted, you are able to formulate plans in mid-battle. Lastly, do you enjoy reporting your followers?"

"Okay…you lost me there…"

"If you are required to report insubordination, would you do it?"

"Uh…if you mean turning in my followers, which would most likely be my friends, I don't think I'd have the guts to."

"That is exactly why. They do what is needed. They follow procedures to the letter. They only break protocol when needed. It is as simple as that."

"When you put it that way, being the leader doesn't seem all that glamorous," Asuka muttered.

"It is not, Asuka-san," Rei deadpanned, "Dang-san and Kanatnikov-san one point or another will be forced to turn us in, if we commit undue insubordination. You would not have such courage. That is why are most suited to follow."

"I suppose..." she suddenly paused about the situation. "Wait a minute…why are you even helping me? Were you ordered to help me?"

"Not exactly," was her response.

"What's that suppose to mean?" she inquired suspiciously as she narrowed her eyes.

"Shinji-kun and Misato-san worried about your state of mind," Rei calmly explained, maintaining her kneeling position, "The initiative was mine."

"Okay…" Asuka responded as she continued to eye her suspiciously, "I guess I'll take your word for now…Anyways, could you please leave me alone? I'd like to spend some time with mom."

"As you wish." With that Rei got up and walked along the umbilical bridge and out a door, leaving behind a highly confused Asuka.

"Now I don't know what I should think," was the last thing Rei heard Asuka muttered before the door closed behind her.

Meanwhile, Shinji was regaling in his tale in his battle against the 5th. They were now cutting through a park, taking a long route back to their home. It was roughly 7:30 pm or so, and Shinji was describing what happened after the second shot was fired. Shinji could still remember that day clearly, as he described how he had grabbed onto the emergency handles, which was scorching hot, and pried it open to find that Rei was safe and sound. He also remembered how he cried for her, and when she told him she was unsure of what to do in such a situation, he had asked her to smile. That small curl of her lips, brought wonders to him, as it was then he saw that she was capable of emotions; just a lack of understanding prevented her from expressing them.

"Let me guess, love at first sight Shinji?" Natasha smirked, as Shinji concluded his story about the battle against the 5th Angel. He immediately blushed at the question, but he looked at the Russian girl and nodded.

"Hai," he firmly replied. "Well actually…I didn't really start to develop my feelings until after the battle."

"No need to explain Shinji," Natasha replied with a wave of her hand. "It's perfectly normal what you're feeling right now. Anyways, have you made a move?"

Shinji instantly sputtered at the question, "Where-where did that come from?"

"Embarrassed are we?" she inquired inquisitively. "So…all heart and no guts eh? That makes one very dull boy, especially if you some how get in bed with Rei." Shinji furiously blushed at the comment and the prospect of bedding Rei, despite his desires to be with Rei at such an intimate level.

"Do-do-do you mind?" Shinji weakly muttered, his face currently red as a tomato.

Natasha let out a defeated sight, "Fine," she resigned. "Anyways, back to my original question, have you made a move?"

"What makes you think we're dating?" Shinji weakly asked. Natasha immediately face faulted as she stared incredulously at Shinji who stared back at her curiously.

"You mean to tell me that you two are not even dating?" she deadpanned. Shinji slowly shook his head as she let out a sigh.

"What gave you that idea in the first place?" Shinji asked curiously, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"You two seemed to be made for one another," she replied. "That and what happened last week. I thought that conversation you two had was some sort of lovers quarrel." Shinji was speechless. The statement caught him completely off guard as he started to blush a brilliant shade of red.

"M-m-m-made for each other?" he nervously repeated, as he started to hyperventilate. "Lovers quarrel? How – what – where – did you get these ideas?"

"Yes," she slowly responded. "And to answer your second and third question, you're both quiet, yet hide different personalities that compliment one another?"

"How so?"

"That my good comrade is for me to know, and for you to find out," she cheekily replied with a wide smirk. Shinji let out an exasperated sigh as the continued to walk.

"Why are you even interested in my love life Natasha-chan?" Shinji nervously asked.

"Just simply satisfying my curiosity," was her reply. "By the way, why exactly haven't you started dating?"

Shinji blushed as he responded, "Well at the time, she was still hard to get through," he quietly replied as he recalled exactly how quiet she was. She never spoke to anyone except for Gendo, and later Shinji, and rarely spoke more than a few words a sentence; mostly one-worded answer. It was even rarer for her to initiate conversations, unless she was relaying information. She was a girl wrapped up in mystery, famous for her quest demeanour, her apparent ignorance of her surroundings, and her famous stance in class. Always staring out the window, with her arms either crossed on the desk, or her left arm propped up so she rested her chin in the palm of her hand. A true mystery she was. No one knew here, understood her, or tried to even approach her. She was untouchable.

However Third Impact changed her. Not only was she freed from Lillith, thus creating a soul just for her, she came back human. He could still vividly remember the past year. Rei slowly, but surely facilitated human behaviour, and a rudimentary understanding of emotions and interactions based on those emotions. She learned table manners, modesty, which only sunk in recently after uncountable attempts from all three, basic social skills and others. It was a very bumpy road Rei's been travelling on, with quite a few crashes. However one of her traits Shinji, Asuka, and Misato had discovered was her ability to pursue any goal, assignment, or task diligently. Once focused on a task, she would see it through until the end. Thus during the past year she persevered, despite on several occasions in which Asuka, Misato, and twice did Shinji, give up. They believed she was a hopeless cause, but time and time again, Rei had proven that was ready and willing to step up and take on any obstacle head on. They never knew what drove her, but whatever it was, it kept the others going as well, helping her when she needed it, pushing her in the right direction, and such.

Lost in his thoughts and memories, Shinji let out a yelp of pain as he felt something impact the back of his head. He looked around, then to his left as he rubbed his head, to see Natasha had walloped him hard on the head.

"What was that for?" he whined, gently nursing the throb on the back of his head.

"Well I had to get your attention. Calling you didn't help, so I figured that was the best way," she smugly replied, "Besides Shinji, you still have not answered my question."

"W-what question?"

"For a 16 year old, you're too easy to embarrass," she quietly muttered. "I wanted to know why you two haven't started dating yet."

"Well actually I uh…that is to say that…well…Rei and I are uh…" by now he was well beyond crimson, and was drawing up so much blood, that it made his skin pale as Rei's possibly even paler.

"He's taking her to the movies Sunday," an annoyed voice stated. The two looked ahead to see Jon wearing a pair of black sweatpants, black t-shirt and a bokken in his right hand which he rest on his shoulder.

"Movies? That baka and the brick?" another voice called out. All three looked to the road to see that Misato had pulled up next to them with Rei in the passenger seat who was blushing, and Asuka directly behind Misato with an amused smirk.

"Shinji and Rei on a date?" Misato squealed in delight as she got out of the care. "My Shinji is becoming a man!" She immediately leapt forward as she drew Shinji into an almighty bear hug as she buried his head into her ample cleavage.

As Shinji desperately tried to find some much needed air, everyone stared at the scene with mixed reactions. Natasha's mouth opened a couple inches as she stared wide eyed in bewilderment at the open display before her, as she tried to suppress a fit of giggles threatening to burst from her. Rei eyed the woman dangerously despite her calm appearance as she got out of the car, while Jon looked away and pinched the bridge of his nose. Asuka on the other hand leaned against the car as she watched the rather interesting spectacle, with an even wider smirk on her face.

"Mi-sa-to-san," came a muffled plea for Misato's chest, "let-go! Need-air." However caught in her glee, she continued to hug her charge while the on lookers decided to head in save for Rei.

"Misato-san, release Shinji-kun."

"Now why should I?" Misato pouted while Shinji continued to flail about in search for any means of air.

"He is suffocating," Rei deadpanned. Misato looked down and smirked to see that Shinji's face had turned a tinge of blue. She smiled broadly as she released the poor boy as she stumbled back and fell flat on his bum as he clutched his chest with one hand while the other supported his weight.

Rei approached the fallen boy and place his hand on his shoulder as she gently rubbed it saying, "Shinji-kun, daijoubu desca?" Shinji weakly nodded as he continued to breathe deeply.

Misato lowered herself and placed her hand on Shinji's other shoulder, "Gomen ne," she apologized, "but this was the only way I could get rid of the others without arousing too much suspicion. I just wanted to tell you two to have fun, and best of luck on your date. That and you guys deserve one another." The pair of them stared at their guardian completely dumbfounded. One minute she was hugging, or rather glomping the poor boy suffocating him until he turned blue, the next apologizing and telling to have fun. Heck she was practically giving them her blessings.

"Yo," a voice called from above, "you have an angry Asuka up here! Shinji get your ass up here and cook! We're hungry!"

"Hai, hai," Misato bellowed back to the caller who turned out to be Jon, waving his bokken. "Just give him a minute to catch his breath!"

"He wouldn't need to if you didn't choke him!" Misato's response was some defiant noise as she pulled down her bottom left eyelid and stuck out her tongue. Jon let out a frustrated groan before he disappeared inside to handle a disgruntled Asuka.

Satisfied with her work, she turned to her charges Rei and Shinji to see them getting up, with Rei supporting Shinji as he tried to catch his breath. Misato smiled widely as she thought about her current home life.

She had five very different kids living under her roof. And yet despite their differences in personality they seemed to compliment one another. There's Rei, quiet, possibly introvert, and quite a loose cannon in a manner of speaking. She was somewhat unpredictable because she was often conducting experiments. She'll put up the weirdest of emotional states and try them out on the others. In the morning she had tried to be cheery in front of Jon and Natasha which only served to freak them out badly. Jon reacted by asking what happened to her while Natasha had simply grabbed breakfast and headed off to HERV to prep for the training session.

Then there was Asuka was still the fiery German red-head she was before the 15th Angel. She was still aggressive as every, as she usually woke up Shinji in any manner she pleased as usually, but it no longer had that malice from before. Shinji these days was just lazy in the morning and needed a major kick start before he was up and about. She still had that smugness around her but she wasn't as egotistical. She still considered herself Number 1 and on many occasions argued with Shinji on the littlest of things, which very much reminded her of a sibling relationship.

Those two memories alone brought an even bigger smile to her lips as she stood behind Shinji and Rei who were staring at the elevator, occasionally glancing at one another when one or the other wasn't looking. Quite a change really, for whenever it was a relaxed situation with no real talking, such as a peaceful meal or watching T.V., Shinji and Rei would glance at one another, immediately looking away when they caught one another. Although on occasion they would stare at one another for a period of time until someone pulled them back to reality. Never once had they acted on their feelings until today. Perhaps the date they had day after the combat training would do them some good.

Speaking of doing good, perhaps this was just what the doctor ordered. She remembered that Shinji's psychologist told her that he needed to out and relax in a comfortable environment. She had tried that on three occasions all of them failures. Despite his progress he only opened up to those who already knew him. In public he's still troubled as ever. He was still afraid to meet new people and was even worse when it came to opening up with the few people he chanced with. This was negatively affecting his self-esteem. At home he's fine. He's happy, relaxed, and completely carefree like any normal teenager. However in public, he's usually in a withdrawn almost frightened state, unless he's around people he knew.

But lately he's starting to be a bit more relaxed during his outings with Jon, Touji, and Kensuke. A real oddity was Jon. Throughout the week he'd had gone through so many personality shifts that Misato remains unsure of how to act around him. The only time he's ever in a solid state long is his relaxed state which was his default state of being. It's the only real time she can be comfortable, and tries to enjoy every moment of it. He's just as easy to tease as Shinji, and freaks over the littlest of things. He's a bit of a goofball at home, and even was a major slob as she was, except that he cleans up on occasion while she usually left her messes to good old Shinji to clean up. Jon was an easy going person who usually took things as he saw it. One of his habits which recently became his signature thing in the household was his habit to wake up early in the morning and can be seen either on the veranda or the roof, practicing with either his bokken, bamboo pole, or his martial arts. He would then come back just before breakfast, shower, and then eat after everyone else was done. Misato Instantly smirked remembering the reason for showering.

_Flashback_

It was last week; everyone had been drawn from their slumber due to Shinji's cooking. Asuka being competitive as ever saw the first one to sit down, followed by everyone else, with Jon being the last. Initially everyone had wondered where he was until he came in through the door leading to the veranda which was next to the kitchen.

Everyone had settled into their seats and began to eat when Jon noticed a beer in Shinji's hand, "Uh…Shinji you're not drinking that are you?" Shinji looked back at Jon curiously who was looking back at hi with an eyebrow raised.

Shinji shook his head, "No, it's for Misato-san." He then proceeded to pass the sleepy woman her beer while Jon looked at the can wide eyed. Asuka and Natasha had stopped eating to watch; one for amusement the other curious what would happen and to confirm something she heard about concerning her drinking. Shinji simply sat down and started eating while occasionally glanced at Rei who was doing the same.

Misato held the can in her right hand as she cracked it open with her right index figure. She brought the can to her mouth and immediately began to down it. Jon instantly gagged as he jaw fell down to the table as his eyes grew to the size of saucers, with his glasses hanging by one ear. The two girls simply watched in amusement. Natasha actually continued to watch Misato guzzle her beer while Asuka watched Jon's petrified form as Misato finished her can.

"YAHAAAAA! KEHEEEEEE! That hit the spot!"

"No way, uh, uh, _no way in fuckin' hell am I eatin her again!_" With that Jon got up, readjusted his glasses, grabbed his plate and left as fast as he could.

Misato blinked a few times as she watched Jon disappear into the living room. She suddenly heard some snickering to her left as she looked towards Asuka who was covering her mouth with both hands as she fought to suppress a laugh. A battle she lost miserably as she bowled over, toppling her chair over as she clutched her sides, rolling in absolute laughter. Soon enough everyone joined in the laughter, while Rei simply giggle.

_End Flashback_

Despite his dislike over the fact Misato drank at any chance she had, Jon respected her nonetheless, and so far on one occasion joined her for a can. But unlike her, he only drank one can and sipped in moderation.

The last member of her family was Natasha. An odd girl, but was easy to be around. Very observant, and very blunt in her speech. She was always head on and says things as she saw things. An unhealthy trait Misato and Auks claimed, and yet Jon, Rei, and Shinji had disagreed. She was also inquisitive, and very systematic with the way she did things. She'll find out what her tasks were, and then puts them into an order that works in such a way that everything was en route. Strange as it was but it gave Shinji a chance to actually take a break from being the only real cleaner in the family. Whenever she wasn't doing anything important, she was doing work for the KGB, for the team, reading a book, or playing chess mostly with Jon, and occasionally with the others. Against most of them she lost pretty quickly. Jon and Rei were the only real challenges for her, as they were highly unpredictable with their moves.

Misato grinned wildly as she watched Shinji suddenly get assault by a hungry Asuka. Rei turned to Misato giving her a blank stare. Misato shook her head however and pointed back towards the fight. Already Jon and Natasha had separated the two, with Natasha and Shinji heading into the kitchen to fix up some dinner while Jon was restraining Asuka with all his might. Sadly his workout earlier had drained him and he had almost lost his grip when Rei stepped in and helped restrain and calm the raging Asuka.

Misato let out a contented sigh as she walked into the kitchen. She loved her family. Even though Jon and Natasha had only recently moved in a week ago, they've already settled themselves into the family. She laughed as she pulled out a can of beer. Jon was like the big brother of the family, closely followed by Natasha. They were like the role models for the younger ones, giving pointers and tips in life and such. Shinji and Rei were like the middle kids with Asuka being the baby of the family, trying to gain attention of the older siblings.

She signed once more as she looked up into the evening sky. Her family was perfect. She had two role models to help her handle the younger ones, and five kids who respected her and care for her deeply, as she cared for them. It was truly a perfect family. It had its natural flaws, as well as its natural beauty. It was her family.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she said to the night sky.

**So what are your thoughts on Misato's family? Please give me your comments and feedback.**


	7. Battle Ready

**Inescapable Grasp of Eva, Gather of the Children**

**Chapter VI Battle Ready**

**I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated this in over two or three months! But the summer will do that to you. The fact that I was lazy when I should have been updating my story was something I shouldn't have done, but when fanfiction writing has become too much of a commodity for me, then I get lazy. I'm really, really sorry. I will also try to get out my other Evangelion stories update as soon as possible.**

**Well now time to get some battles in. This will be the last session before I finally bring in the Hellspawn Advocates into the picture once more. So be prepared for Cerberus next chapter, for it's going to be one hell of an explosive battle compared to the previous one. And now enjoy the battle between the pilots as they do their combat training.**

**And again, I am really, really sorry for the very long delay!**

Morning normally was a quiet affair. It was a time to wake-up, relax with your family, or sleep in. This morning however was not the case for the Katsuragi household. The only ones normally up early were Shinji and Jon who respectively prepare breakfast and trained on the veranda. This morning however differed. Instead of the veranda Jon was forced onto the roof as a certain redhead had taken it under going last minute combat training from Natasha. This highly irritated him that he grabbed a katana instead of his bokken to train with. Only Rei and Misato remained in bed and continued to sleep until awoken from the smell of breakfast.

Shinji let out a contented sigh as he prepared all the needed ingredients. He placed half a loaf of bread into a toaster oven; beat some eggs, sliced vegetables and the like. Shinji referred to a list that had everyone's egg preferences. Lately everyone wanted their eggs a certain way and wanted certain things that it stressed Shinji. Third day in Rei had proposed a list to be complied and acquire a separate oven grill. Natasha had compiled the list and Misato gotten an oven, which had a grill and an iron top which could be used for frying. This relieved a lot of stress on Shinji's part, plus it gave him a chance to experiment more ways to cook.

A while later Shinji called everyone in for breakfast. To everyone's mild surprise, even Jon came down. Breakfast was a silent affair as everyone thought about the upcoming battles. Shinji simply ate and tried to relax, while everyone else were in preparation for the battle. The level of stress and concentration was written all over their face. Rei remained indifferent. Jon quietly muttered to himself, occasion tapping what seemed to be random spots with his left hand as he ate. Natasha who had long finished breakfast had her eyes closed in a meditative state. Asuka on the other hand was nervous wreck. She needed a plan but couldn't come up with anything. She knew nothing about Jon and Natasha in terms of battle techniques. She cursed herself for not observing Jon during his training, and now she was about to venture into the unknown.

Misato simply sat there with an amused expression as she observed her charges. Shinji was trying to calm down, while Jon and Natasha were planning their battles. Asuka was so nervous she was gobbling her food while Rei remained unreadable. She never could read her, and most likely never would. That was something left for Shinji. She began to wonder how the pairings were going to work out. Since there were 6 pilots, the easiest thing to do would be play out a round robin where everyone would get a chance to square off against one another. That worked however there was the difference in skills. Touji for instance was a novice amongst all of them. Against Asuka, Shinji or Rei he would lose for sure, since they were veterans. Although Jon and Natasha were also novices, they had prior training. Plus they had combat skills which had to be considered. And considering how the Evangelions are capable of various manoeuvres it wouldn't be surprising to see them pull off some martial arts tricks. There were so many issues that it began to hurt just thinking about it. Misato shook her head clear and took a sip of her beer.

"Everyone," she said drawing everyone's attention, "I'd just like say that there is no need to rip each other apart, alright? It's not a competition, it's merely a training session so please, I say again, don't rip each other apart."

"Misato-san, there's no need to get worried," Shinji assured her. "We all know that it's just a training session."

"I guess so," Misato sighed. "I'm just worried that you guys might let your emotions get the best of you, and for some people their training." Misato knew she had hit a nerve. The way they had reacted towards that last statement indicated she made her point. Jon and Natasha had both seen combat and that alone could be a problem, as they would have fewer reservations about their attacks. Shinji, Rei, and Asuka on the other hand had only fought the angels or tanks. Facing off against another Evangelion was a whole new experience for them. She also worried that Shinji would react much like he did during the 13th's attack. Then lastly there was the matter with Touji. He was completely new to the roster with no prior experience, and had only begun his training. If he were to face off against anyone more likely than not he would suffer the worst of them all.

"Guys, all I can say is, be careful out there, and please, oh please, please, please, don't push it, alright? I don't want you guys hospitalized because of some crazy stunt."

The ride to NERV had been a silent one. Misato and her passengers were in their own worlds as they thought about what was to come. The thoughts ranged from what was going to happen to them during the battle, to what tactics they were going to us for the battle, to why they even had to return to piloting Eva. In any case however they had to move on and hopefully, they'd be able to work things out and be able to lead normal lives soon. Piloting Eva just took too much out of life and they wanted to have a life, instead of only being able to be protectors of the world.

Soon after everyone had changed into their plug suits and assembled in Central Dogma, as they awaited instructions. As they waited, Jon, Rei, and Misato stood by Gendo, while Shinji and Asuka aimlessly did nothing too busy in their own personal worlds. Natasha and Touji on the other hand were speaking with the three main bridge techs, as they tried to get to know one another more. Central Dogma was in a state of uproar as technicians did last minute checks and programming to the system. Firewalls were erected, anti-virus programs were tested and installed, and even various fail-safes were programmed. All of this was to prevent any possible form of computer attacks against the MAGI.

Throughout all the hustle and bustle, the pilots were all downright nervous. They were about to use untested systems, and the field test was to battle each other, head to head. What a way to start off a new system. Then there was the fact the pilots were about to square off against battle hardened veterans in the field of battle. Jon and Natasha would more likely than not hold nothing back against them as they fought. It was just their unfortunate luck if they didn't die quickly. Soon Ritsuko came in, drawing the attention of the pilot as they awaited her instructions.

Ritsuko cleared her throat and spoke, "Let's begin. These will be round robin matches, so therefore you will be battling each other. Time permitting we will have the two strongest pilots fight one another. Are there any questions?" The pilots remained silent for some time until Ritsuko nodded, and beckoned them to follow her into another room.

Everyone remained silent as they walked through the halls. The only sign of life was the dull clicking of Ritsuko's heels, and the dull padding sound of everyone's footsteps. Everyone felt highly uneasy in the silence, but considering what they were about to go through it was understandable. However as they tried to come up with some sort of topic, all of them came up dry, with nothing to break the silence. It felt really awkward to talk at the moment, so they all chose the silence instead.

When they entered the test chamber, they looked at the room in a bit of confusion. The chamber looked exactly like the harmonics test chamber, with the red coolant, and the orange test tubes. They all looked at Ritsuko curiously as she began to type a few things into the consoles.

She suddenly noticed their curious expressions, and smiled, "This is a completely different chamber. Although constructed like a harmonics test chamber, the plugs will be completely submerged, the plugs will also flood with LCL, and the coolant will serve to actually rattle the plugs, to simulate any impact. Also, if you noticed, we're on the same level as the cages. This will allow us to link the test plugs with the dummy plugs inside the Evas. Each plug is designed to take the brainwave patterns you're A-10 neural connectors detect, and transmit it to the Evas. This will allow you to sync with the Evas, which will then simulate the battles, and feed the information into your plugs. Understand?" Everyone nodded, either in understanding, or to avoid looking like fools.

"Well then, get in; there will be crews that will be starting up the battles soon. You will be informed as to who your first opponent is once everything is underway." The pilots left the room and quickly mounted the test plugs, and prepared for the test.

Inside the control room, people began to file in as they started up systems, and began to activate the training system. Soon enough everyone had completed start-up procedures and began to set up the scenarios, and move the plugs. All six simulation plugs started to move around, as they formed a hexagon formation. Ritsuko then instructed to submerge the simulation plugs and prepare to inject the LCL. As all six plugs submerged, each of them was eventually dipped into boxes that divided each of the plugs from one another.

"Begin Eva start up sequence," Ritsuko ordered. Crews began working as they brought Units 00 to 03, 05 and 06 online, and synced the pilots to their respective Evas. Ritsuko then punched in a few commands as she paired up the pilots. She waited for a moment before the MAGI spat out the pairings.

Second Child, Soryu Asuka, VS Third Child, Ikari Shinji

First Child, Ayanami Rei, VS Forth Child, Suzuhara Touji

Sixth Child, Dang Jonathan VS Seventh Child, Kanatnikov Natasha

"This should prove interesting," Ritsuko muttered as she transmitted the pairings to the pilots and Central Dogma. "Alright, let's begin. You each will be fighting in a random field from today's world. So make due. Good luck."

**First Match:**

"Shinji, you are so going down," Asuka bellowed as she and Shinji materialized in front of one another, in the Geo Front. Asuka smirked as she spotted the Magorok Sword in the ground next to her. She smirked as she unsheathed the blade and charged.

"Now I'll show you WHO THE NUMBER ONE PILOT IS!"

Shinji immediately started to panic as he tried to think of a way out of the battle. He didn't feel comfortable with the thought of fighting a human, and he was just terrified he now had to fight Asuka. Shinji's might was flooded with indecision as he wondered how he could fight Asuka without hurting her. But everything that came to mind only resulted in damaging her Eva, in turn hurting Asuka. He had fought Unit 02 before, but that was it, he fought Unit 02. He never fought against Asuka until now.

"SHINJI WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING THERE!" Shinji gasped at the sound of Misato's voice, as he looked ahead to see Unit 02 in the air as the sword prepared to swing. Shinji just barely had enough time as he rolled to the right, as the sword cleaved the ground, sending up dirt and trees everywhere. Asuka however restarted her attack as she went after him, dragging the sword through the ground until she could lift it out.

Shinji on the other hand continued to run backwards as he panicked. He didn't want to fight Asuka, but she was sure intent on fighting him. He didn't know what to do. He was confused, lost, unsure of himself, even scared. Whenever he felt like this he did the only thing he could do, and that was to run.

**Second Match:**

"This isn't good," Touji muttered as Unit 00 and Unit 03 materialized in the city. He took a look around him to see that he at least had the advantage of terrain to use to hide. He suddenly realized that it was Tokyo-3, and went for the nearest weapons cache. He made a note to thank Kensuke for forcing him to help him memorize all the weapons cache. The result was that they both ended up memorizing most power ports and weapons cache.

Once sure the pallet rifle he held was loaded, he started running around the city, in an attempt to find Rei. Considering the paint job of her unit and his unit things shouldn't be too hard in terms of finding one another. He slowed his pace down as he started to walk in between buildings, peaking around corners and alleyways as he walked. Something about the silence made him feel uncomfortable. He stopped a moment and listened, only to realize that he couldn't hear anything. She had either light feet, or had found him and waited for his move. The latter seemed more plausible than the former considering the mass of the Evas, and the realism the setting was.

Touji felt things might get hairy, and brought up his AT field. Despite the lack of strength it had at the moment, he felt it would hold long enough to get him out of a pinch. He found he would thank his lucky stars he even knew how to erect an AT field.

**Third Match:**

Unit 05 and 06 materialized onto a shallow lake as they sized up one another. Jon's and Natasha's faces contorted with concentration as they prepped for combat. They both knew that the other was ready to inflict injuries of any sorts to win. That was the way of war. Survival of the fittest was a known law in battles. Whoever was stronger would walk away victorious. They intended to be victorious; however it was defeating their opponent that was going to be the hard part.

Natasha reached back to draw a Progressive Knife when she felt something else attached to the fin. She grabbed the object to reveal itself as her custom Progressive Sword. She smirked as she brought the weapon to bear. Jon responded by extending his Progressive Katars. Both stood there staring at one another for some time as they wait for one or the other to make a move. It was indeed a frightening match as the two soldiers prepared for combat. Due to the realism of the arena, there was wildlife roaming about. Nearby, within eye shot, an eagle suddenly dived down as it went for its prey.

In the instant it grabbed its meal; the entire lake erupted as both warriors charged.

"COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD!" Asuka bellowed as she charged, swinging back and forth in an attempt to hit Shinji. He on the other hand continued to run backwards, while trying to find a chance to turn around and sprint like made. However he eventually found himself backed up against the NERV pyramid as Asuka brought her blade back to strike.

"C'mon you coward, fight me like you mean it!"

"SHINJI, FIGHT BACK AT HER! DO YOU WANT TO BE CONSIDERED WEAK AGAIN!" Misato bellowed. Shinji gasped at the thought of being weak. He suddenly remembered a set of sessions he had spent with his psychiatrist, as he helped him get over his inferiority complex, and a few other complexes, such as his lack of self-esteem. They had actually gone as far as to get him to be confident in himself.

"I'm sorry Asuka," Shinji whispered before he roared as he changed his Eva forward, and rammed her hard in the mid section. Unit 02 toppled over as Unit 01 jumped back and drew its own Magorok sword. Shinji let out another roar as he charged forward and made a slash towards the side of the rising Unit 02

"Oh shit!" Touji bellowed as he ducked behind a building. In the moments it took him to raise his AT field, Rei had fired a few shots, which bounced off his AT field. He peaked from the building he hid behind, and saw the familiar sea blue paintjob of Unit 00 before it fired another burst at his head. From where he stood he could tell she was on the city edge. He knew that he sucked at range, and was more adept at fisticuffs. He hoped that he'd be able to get close enough to actually enter that state of combat.

Taking his chances, Touji ducked out of the building he hid behind, and started to weave in and out of other buildings as he tried to make his way towards his target. He felt many shots grazed him, that he soon had to hide behind another building, as he tried to recover from the pains in his arms. He quietly cursed at how Rei was a good shot, despite his dodging and swerving, Rei had still managed to land her shots on him. He could felt himself start to sweat as he wondered what the heck to do next. Unlike the 13th Angel, Unit 03 did not have the ability to stretch itself like Rubberman from the Fantastic 4. Touji peaked up from the building to see that Rei had disappeared.

Water flooded the shores as the blades from Jon's katars, crisscrossed, locked with Natasha's double edged sword. Both struggled as he tried to overpower one or the other. Jon suddenly hopped back, as Natasha found herself off balance. Jon took the moment as he went for Unit 06's flank. Unit 05 made to stab Unit 06's chest but Natasha took advantage of her off balance and rolled to her left, dodging the blade.

Rolling back up to her feet Natasha dashed forward, blade ready to thrust forward. Jon brought up his katars as he readied for the stab. Already he had a counter attack in mind; one that would most likely do some major damage. At the last moment Unit 06 brought its arm around so that the blade was on its left side as it dodged a thrust from Unit 05's right katar, leaving its flank open. Jon cursed himself for falling for such a trick.

"Shit," Asuka cursed as her sword shattered. Unfortunately when she brought up her sword to block, she had blocked with the broadside of the blade. Shinji's sword had easily shattered it, leaving Asuka almost no room to dodge. She thanked Unit 02 for having such a strong AT field which she had erected at the last second. However Shinji didn't let up as he applied more pressure and began to expand his AT field.

In the time it took for Shinji to cancel out Asuka's field had given her the time to disengage and back off and gained some breathing room as she prepared for what was to come. She quickly drew both knives and extended them. She immediately noticed that the blades were twice the normal length and smirked. Realizing that the blades were more durable, and the hilt itself contained more blade sets than before, she began to work a plan into disarming Shinji and take him down.

Calming herself down, she thought back to the training she did with Natasha and reflected upon what she had learnt about using knives. Remembering that knives were far more nimble that most swords; she could easily break through defences and assaults against all but the most proficient of warriors. Examining Shinji's style, she knew that he had no real experience and went with instincts, which happened to be his strong suit, despite the fact he had been unconscious in each occasion. The idea to use against him was to have him lunge at her with a move that would leave him no room to dodge or evade, considering how inexperienced he was with the sword, the task was easy for her. Having her game plan set Asuka sprinted forward with both blades, with a noted recovery time of less than 20 seconds.

"What the hell?" Toji muttered to himself as he stared at the spot Rei's Eva had been only moments ago. Seeing as he had lost his target, he resumed his careful search around the city, however being more cautious as he looked around corners and alleys big enough for a rifle to aim through. Touji passed a particular weapons cache to notice that it had recently been accessed. Normally unnoticed was a crushed tree and car for someone at his height. However in his state of awareness, he had managed to catch it. How he was able to notice it yet remain oblivious to Hikari's feelings was a mystery not even the almighty god knew as he watched the simulation.

Hearing the familiar click of someone cocking a gun, Touji sprinted towards the direction where he heard it. As he turned a corner, he suddenly made eye contact with the barrel of Rei's pallet gun as she fired. Acting instinctively Touji rolled to the side and fired a burst which Rei dodged. Not letting up, Touji fired another burst, running forward as he did. Dodging the burst Rei levelled her weapon as she prepared to fire. However by the time she had readied herself Toji shoulder tackled her forcing her to drop her weapon. Acting as fast as she could her Eva reached out and grabbed a hold of Toji's as she tried to rip the weapon out of his hands only to destroy the weapon in the process.

Taking the opening Natasha slashed as she moved to cleave Jon's Eva in two. With almost no room to dodge Jon barely repositioned his Eva to only have part of the right fin cut off along with the entire piece protruding from his chin. Rolling away both his Eva and himself gripped their chins. The Unit 06 merely sat there while Jon inside was steaming.

"_Oh fucking hell! That was fucking stupid!_" Jon looked up to see Natasha bounding for him. "_Oh fucking hell._" Jon rolled to his left and lunged forward with his right blade only to have it parried as Natasha kicked his back. Rolling with the kick, Jon righted himself up and wheeled around as he threw a haymaker, impacting Unit 06 in the chest forcing it to falter back a few steps. Jon smirked at his work, as his haymaker had left a massive dent upon the unit. Natasha was writhing in pain from the simulated injury, thankful that the injuries would not form, leaving only phantom pains.

"Shinji this had been fun," Asuka yelled as she dashed forward. "But it ends now!"

"AHH!" Shinji roared as he raised his sword and ran headlong towards Asuka.

"Let's see her get out of this," Toji smirked as he prepared his barrage.

"Suzuhara-kun has improved," Rei noted.

"Let's end this," said Jon as he prepared himself.

"You'll pay for that," Natasha growled, raising her sword to strike.

Shinji leapt into the air as he came down fully intending to cleave Asuka in two. Stopping Asuka waited patiently as the behemoth known as Evangelion Unit 01 came down. Quickly sidestepping Shinji slammed his blade hard into the ground upturning the earth in its wake. However predicting such an event Asuka had moved behind Shinji before the earth could interfere with her footing and stabbed into Unit 01's back, impaling the entry plug in two points. The field immediately dissipated as the simulation ended for the two of them. Asuka let out a triumphant laugh while Shinji nursed his back as he tried to rid himself of the phantom pain.

Unit 03 stumbled back a few steps for suddenly losing his rifle as Unit 00 tumbled back unceremoniously. Regaining his footing Toji bolted forward his right arm reared preparing to strike. Regaining her orientation Rei looked up to see the black bull approaching. Doing the only thing she could think of, she kicked her leg out catching Toji in the abdomen leaving him winded. Taking his lapse in concentration Rei got up and drew her Progressive Knife and lunged towards him. Catching his second wind Toji dodged out of the way and drew his knife and took up a stance. Both units stared down one another before they bounded forward. Rei acrobatically leapt into the air and landed behind Toji and moved to stab him. Toji cursed himself for getting into such a position. Realising his position he did the only thing he could.

"AHHHH!" Toji bellowed. Trying to ignore the intense pain in his back, he wheeled around and attacked in a manner that would make a prison inmate proud. In the moments before the simulation ended, Toji gagged at the sight he had left behind. Sprawled on the ground before him was the result of his extreme shanking upon Unit 00.

The air around resonated as the blades of both behemoths collided. Trying to force back one another, Units 05 and 06 applied as much pressure as they could trying to force back each other. All around was a standstill as neither force gave ground, trying to gain an upper hand upon one another. In a seemingly endless halt in time, one choice sealed the fate of one.

Making his call Jon withdrew his Progressive Katars as Natasha's blade lurched forward. In an instant she found the blade snapped out of her hands as Jon threw the weapon aside. Due to training Jon was suddenly in the air as Natasha delivered a hard instinctive uppercut. Regaining her senses Natasha smirked at his oversight as she drew a knife and flicking towards Jon as it strike squarely in Unit 05's back impaling through the entry plug.

"Well that ends round one," Ritsuko muttered as she jotted notes on her clipboard. Misato could only dumbly nod as she stared at the screen that had displayed the battle between Toji and Rei. She couldn't believe that Rei had lost in such an embarrassing way. Toji had shanked the girl without realising it. However it was the fact that he had simply whipped around and immediately launched into stabbing her. That in itself was impressive. But the fact that she had lost because she had been shanked was just something she could process. It was unbelievable. For that matter it was just impossible in her eyes.

"Raise the plugs out. Give them a break," Ritsuko ordered to one of the operators. "And let them know that we resume in 15 minutes, and begin preparations for the second simulation."

"Hai," people called out as they went about their work.

Soon enough all 6 pilots had dismounted their plugs and waited inside the waiting room as they prepared themselves for the fight up ahead or preformed other activities. Jon and Natasha quietly shook hands before they broke off. Natasha sat in a corner and prepared herself while Jon walked up to Shinji and Asuka as he started to snicker. Shinji could only sigh in exasperation while Asuka smirked triumphantly over her victory.

"So goes to show how invincible Shinji really is," Asuka sneered playfully, panting him on the back none too kindly.

"Hey cut him some slack will ya," said Jon. "Sure he lost but he did give you a run for your money from what I heard."

"Eh I was letting him off easy at first," Asuka reply nonchalantly.

"Sure you were, sure you were," Jon muttered as he moved on to listen to the conversation of the other two. Listening in, he heard Toji profusely apologize to Rei for defeating her in such a manner while she tried to console the poor boy's heart, while trying to figure out exactly how to deal with him in the first place. Jon merely sighed and walked away, muttering to himself.

Shinji sighed tiredly as he sat down on one of the benches and thought about the match ups. He had fought Asuka already, but he still had 5 more matches to go. Fighting against Rei was going to simply be a test of who was the better marksman while against Toji it was brute force. Yet against Jon and Natasha it involved tactics. From what he heard they were experienced tacticians. However he found himself undeterred by such a thought. Thinking about it he'd come to realize that he had always feared being alone. When people started to abandon him, or so he thought at the time, was when his fears began to rise within him. But now he simply worried about the physical pain that came with battle. He could deal with that, so long as he had his family.

The wait soon ended as one of the doors hissed open and Ritsuko entered. All the pilots gave their attention towards the blond as she looked down at her clipboard.

"Well I must say that this gives us a somewhat accurate evaluation of your combat skills," said Ritsuko. "Pilots Dang and Kanatnikov, I shall be sharing the data with you at a later time." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Asuka's scowling. Figuring that she may still have a small problem with her narcissism and superiority complex, she made a note to bring it up with Misato.

"Unfortunately that is all the time we have at the moment, so you may go for the day." Most of the pilots let out sighs of relief while a few had looks of disappointment. Nonetheless all 6 pilots trooped out of the room and headed straight for the showers to get cleaned up.

"Ne, Shinji what was it like fighting Asuka?" Toji asked curiously as they showered.

"It was … aggressive," Shinji replied, for lack of a better term. "She fought with so much passion."

"More like a superiority complex," Jon interjected.

"Makes more sense than the passion you're referring to," Toji stated.

"Shinji, you should have known that Asuka was a narcissist, and most likely still is. You can't take that away with only maybe a year of therapy especially in her case. You on the other hand are a different case. Of course it took Third Impact, but you had changed to the point that you no longer feared opening your heart to certain people."

"Uh…how the hell do you know so much?"

Jon merely shrugged as he turned off his showerhead, "I know what it's like to isolate myself from others, being alone in a crowd. Believe me; drifting from one group of friends to another is not something one should experience."

"I guess your right," Toji muttered as he and Shinji turned off their showerheads and got changed.

After saying goodbye to Toji and Jon, Shinji sat inside the locker room contemplating what Jon had told him.

"Asuka," Shinji whispered aloud. He had always figured the fiery flamboyant red-headed German was simply too proud and disliked being usurped. In fact anyone would feel threatened if their number 1 position was taken. But Asuka being a narcissist was something that had never crossed her mind. He remembered how terrible she looked prior to Kaoru's attack on NERV. Remembering seeing her in such a vegetative state, he couldn't see how, loving herself so much could do such a thing. He knew that she loved piloting Eva, but he began to question her reasons for piloting at the time. He even wondered why she piloted now.

He then began to wonder why everyone piloted Evangelions. Was it for power? Was it for fame? Was it to protect those precious to you? Was it to defend the world? His dealings with NERV had taught him that nothing was what it seemed to be. There was always something lying underneath the exterior, hiding something so sinister that it could never see the light of day lest it risked being discovered too soon and be destroyed. That was what NERV was to him at the time. But now he was unsure. What was the purpose of restoring NERV with all the Angels gone? Despite the fact that SEELE had returned, it wasn't like they were going to attack. So many questions flooded his mind as he contemplated on the situation concerning everyone's reason to pilot Eva. He sighed sadly as he ran his hand through his hair.

Figuring that he wasn't going to get any answers to his quiet questions, Shinji go up and closed his locker. Leaving the room Shinji turned to find Misato and see if she could provide them a ride home, and if not try to find Jon and get a ride off him if possible providing he was riding his Suzuki Katana. As he walked down the halls Shinji continued to ponder things that had been plaguing his mind, ranging from why piloting Evangelion to his life. Although he tried to avoid such thoughts, he discovered he had to face these thoughts every so often, and learned to cope and deal with it. At times it would prove to be a learning experience as he learned now aspects of himself while other times he would only find pain and suffering.

Lost in his thoughts he didn't realize where he was going until he collided with something. Closing his eyes he prepared to meet the cold hard floor; yet it never came. Opening his eyes he line up with the gaze of none other than Commander Ikari, holding onto his arm as he tried to support him. Too stunned to react, Gendo gently tugged on his arm and helped him stand up before letting him go.

Shinji could only stare into his father's eyes as his body tried to restart itself. His fear of the man surfaced under his powerful scrutiny. The Commander suddenly raised his hand and Shinji feared for the worst as he prepared for whatever his father had planned for him. He had not expected him to remove his glasses.

Shinji felt his world stop as he stared into his eyes. Before him stood not the cold, calculating glare that his father normally had. He felt different. Inside a long forgotten dormant began to surface as he stared at the man. Although it was small he could see someone he had not seen for the better part of his life. Shinji felt something as he stared into the gaze of his father. He could see the sorrow and regret his father had put him through throughout his life. He could see the torment within over the fact that Yui was no longer reachable and that his wife was someone he could never be with. Most of all he could see a desire. It was a genuine desire to be the father he had failed to be many years ago when Yui had died.

Gendo then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small envelope, reached down and took Shinji's hand and gently pressed it into his hand before whispering, "I'm sorry that I lied." Straightening himself, he gave Shinji one last glance before replacing his glasses as he walked away. Shinji could only turn and stare dumbfounded as he watched his father's back before he turned a corner.

"Tou-san," Shinji whispered to himself. Looking down at his hand, was a simple white envelope with no writing on it whatsoever save for the front that had his name written. Shinji hesitated as he slowly lifted the flap and pulled out the contents. Shinji gasped as tears began to well up in his eyes.

In his hands was a picture of himself as a young baby holding onto a woman. She had short chestnut brown hair, and the most wonderful skin he had ever seen. On her face was an etched smile of content. He could see that the woman was happy as she held onto him who too was content resting on her back. Without a shadow of a doubt Shinji knew that it was his mother, Yui Ikari. He couldn't believe that after so long he finally met his mother's face. He had truly seen the face of his mother and it was thanks to his father.

Thinking about his father he remembered how he had told him during their visit of his mother's grave how he had thrown all photos of her. He then realized what he had meant just now. But also remembering why his father did everything before, he couldn't get angry at the man. Instead he felt confused. How could a man who had abandoned him so long ago all over a sudden want to try and make amends for his previous actions. It made no sense to him as he slowly made his way out of the building.

**So what are your thoughts of the chapter? What did you think of the battles? Did it work, did it suck, please give me your opinions. This will gives me a chance to actually work out and refine my abilities to write battles out, so that when I get to the good stuff, the battles will be that much better written.**

**To those who've read it before the September 14th you will notice that I had rewritten that scene. To those who've just read it, please give me your opinions of the story. I'd like to know what you think so that I can make the family scenes that much better when I delve deeper and deeper into the relationship between Shinji and Gendo.**

**Well anyways, that's all from me**

**Cheers Ja ne**


	8. The Trial Begins

**Wrath of Hell, Gather of the Children**

**Chapter VII The Trial Begins**

**Well it's been a while since I've updated this story; time to change that.**

**I apologize for my lack of updates as I'm currently in College, and that's taking up a lot of my time, plus I work so I don't have as much time to do anything as I had originally hoped. But I will do my best to keep these stories alive during my breaks and hopefully keep you the readers entertained with well described and story-filled stories of mine. That made no sense but I don't care.**

**Anyways on with the chapter, mainly focused on Asuka's and Shinji's personal reflections.**

As the slogan of NERV goes, God's in his heaven, all's right with the world. Such words hold truth for the city of Tokyo-3. From her standpoint Misato could only gaze happily at the sight before her. Before the Angels she remembered this view, along with the time she had shown it to Shinji. Tokyo-3 was truly a beauty then, and it continued to be such under the bright, colourful gleam of the sunset. She wished her the kids could see it but they had spent the last 3 days after the round robin spares training themselves under Jon's tutelage. Although they were benefiting Jon and Natasha had worked the others into the ground.

Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Touji in the comfort of their homes were resting while Natasha had gone out elsewhere to enjoy a different part of the city. Jon on the other hand had badly damaged his bike during a training simulation. Although how he was able to destroy such a machine was anybody's guess, but Jon ruled it that the model was 9 years out of date. So opting to update his gear he went to the nearest motorcycle dealer and had bought himself a Limited Edition Suzuki Hayabusa and was now test driving it throughout the city.

Misato breathed in the even air deeply before she got back into her car. Thinking back to the last three nights when the kids living under her care could relax she could see, despite being dysfunctional, a happy family that was suffering no pain from Eva. She shuddered at the very thought of what could happen ever they ever had to fight again. Although now the world had the help of 6 Eva pilots it didn't make things easy for them should the world ever have to go fighting. Although they were preparing to fight she prayed with all her heart that they would never have to fight again like they did during the angel war. Yet despite this wish she would soon learn that those she had prayed to never suffer again would suffer a terrible pain. However unlike the merciful hand of god that had released them when he had believed they had suffered enough, they would soon come to grips they were now dealing with the devil himself.

Deep within the Earth hidden from the face of the world, the face of 12 men encircle a mysterious orb of energy. The orb itself was of a shock blue, crackling with snapping energy, permeating the darkness that was their chambers. Around the being seated the old men who had once formed the leadership of SEELE; now withered old men without the strength to even lift their own fingers.

"We were promised our restored machines would destroy the Evas with their new powers!" one wheezed angrily.

"And yet they were defeated!"

"By two Evas for that matter!"

"You had promised they had the power to defeat 14 Evas!"

"And there was our problem," a cold voice cutting through the confusion of anger and mistrust. All present turned towards the chair labelled 1 where a man dressed in brown robes and a white visor sat.

"They had been granted the powers to defeat the Evas, meaning the Berserkers. We received what we had asked for, however we had not received what we had desired."

"What your Chairmen Kiel says, is true; members of SEELE," a deep voice bellowed, resonating against the very walls that formed the antechamber. "Your revived machines had only been improved enough to contend with Berserkers so they fought assuming their opponents were berserkers. However if you wish I can offer you an alternative, but you must pay me a heavy price.

"And what would that be pray tell," Kiel demanded.

"I require 17 sacrifices."

"That's ludicrous! You expect us to provide you with 17 people when we barely have the supplies to keep ourselves alive?!"

"I desire the services of your Dummy Plugs"

"Then you shall have it," came Kiel's calm response.

"Chairmen you can't be serious?!"

"We only have 5 of them left! Those are our pilots!"

"Enough," Kiel coldly growled. "You may take them and do as you wish until we can provide you suitable sacrifices."

"You will be rewarded handsomely," the orb replied before disappearing in a bright flash. In its wake it left behind the darkness; the darkness that humans fear, the darkness that consumed them as they cried out in agony.

"Shinji when is breakfast ready?!" Asuka demanded as she exited the bathroom. Entering the living room she was greeted by the sight of Rei and Natasha calmly watching the news with Pen-pen sitting comfortably in Rei's arms. Noticing smell of Shinji's cooking Asuka entered the kitchen to greet the sight of Shinji happily cooking, and to her great surprise the sight of Jon cooking as well. Rubbing her eyes slightly Asuka intently watched the two cook surprised by what she saw.

No words were exchanged between the two. All that occurred were the sounds of utensils, the hiss of cooking oil, and the occasional glances they threw at one another. And yet neither uttered a word to each other. Watching them Asuka noted how graceful Shinji moved in the kitchen. She saw how much calmer he was in an environment he loved, while Jon she noted was merely having a fun time, cooking for once. She knew his passions were his katas yet that didn't stop him from having some fun.

Thinking back to her last therapy session the morning after the training session, she remembered how her therapist reminded she needed to do some personal reflection from time to time and evaluate herself and how she perceived others. It wasn't the first time she had heard it but yet somehow it seemed to click in her mind. Looking at Shinji just now she realized she saw something she had never seen before. She saw a lost boy who only wanted to be acknowledged by people and not suffer if he could. But most of all he just wanted to be accepted by his father. She wondered where the idea that he had been a pervert and a spineless wimp had came from, but she considered that it was the possibility of her unstable mind. Asuka knew she was far from fine, but she felt that she had moved on, even if it was just a bit.

Looking back outside towards Rei she realised that there was more to the girl then meets the eye. Recalling back to the days before she killed herself to defeat the 16th Angel she remembered seeing a confused girl who had been trained onto a path. Although yes her actions constituted her being a doll but yet she felt she could have somehow helped the girl. She felt she may have been to divert the girl from the path she had been travelling, and may have been able to live through the battle until the very end. Perhaps somehow that in it could have helped prevent 3rd Impact from ever happening, if maybe Rei had learned about self-worth instead of believing she was replaceable like the doll Asuka thought she was.

Letting out a sigh Asuka could only look back and forth between Shinji and Rei as she contemplated on how she treated them. She felt terrible for treating them the way she did; yet before she never did really care if she hurt them. Yet why did she feel such things now? Why was it now that she felt some of the guilt from hurting them? The answer was simple. The way her mind had developed a wall shielding her self from the world, creating a new personality unto itself, had led her to do many things she may have never done if she had grown up with her mother. There was more to it, but that was as much as her mind could understand. She still had many things to deal with, such as the pride. She still felt resentful towards Jon's and Natasha's positions, but she at least understood.

The past week had really changed Asuka, more than the whole year of therapy ever did. In the past week everyone had showed her just how weak she was. It was only now that Asuka realized that she wasn't number one. Just because she had the highest sync score didn't mean that she was the best. There were many factors, but the fact none of them had combat training, it was mostly sync ratios that had determined who was the best. But now she knew she had a long way to go before being number one. But that still didn't stop her from hating them from time to time. She was still Asuka after all, just a bit older and lot wiser.

"You've really changed Asuka," Misato suddenly stated from behind Asuka, scaring the young German girl, drawing the attention of the entire household.

"Misato why the heck did you do that?!" Asuka bellowed indignantly as she stared up to her guardian.

"Gomen, gomen," she sheepishly apologized as the household returned to the normal rhythm. "But please come with me." Asuka nodded as they walked onto the balcony.

"As I've said you've really changed Asuka."

"Yeah what about it?"

"Normally you'd be berating Shinji about how slow he is, or even maybe try to rile up the new guys," Misato replied, crossing her arms as she leaned on the railing. "But you held your tongue and seemed to be deep in thought. Although that in itself doesn't show much but it was in your eyes that I had been able to tell that you had changed. You're really growing up, you know that?" Asuka's mood noticeably brightened at the remark.

"Thanks Misato," Asuka quietly thanked, still a little uncomfortable with the idea of humility and saying thanks. But she usually had her ways that the others understood.

"Oi, breakfast is ready!" Jon called out from the kitchen.

"C'mon let's go in and eat," said Misato as she and Asuka entered the kitchen and dined.

A few hours later Shinji found himself in front of the office door of his therapist, Doctor Kuramoto. He had been his doctor since the days he had been asked to see him. Since day one Dr. Kuramoto had seen Shinji through a lot of his past, although he still had a long way to go. He had long ago passed the psychiatric examinations, but he felt that there were some things he was not ready to tell the others that he felt was only meant for the ears of Misato and Dr. Kuramoto only. Today was one of those times he felt it was Dr. Kuramoto whom he should speak to.

Knocking on his door, Shinji waited momentarily before he heard his doctor beckon for him to enter. Opening the door Shinji was greeted by the sight of the man who had helped him for the past year, and continued to do so by giving him sound advice and help him deal with the messed up world that was his life.

"Good morning Shinji-kun, how are you?" Dr. Kuramoto greeted as he got up and approached Shinji.

"I'm fine Kuramoto-san," Shinji respectfully replied as he shook the hand of his doctor.

"That's good to hear," Kuramoto happily replied. "Please, take a seat and tell me what's on your mind." Shinji nodded as he quickly took his seat in front of the doctor's desk.

"So what you like to speak about today?" Kuramoto calmly asked as he leaned on the desk patiently waiting for Shinji's answer. The response he received was something different from the norm which he found refreshing. Shinji although remained silent for his part starting to blush a deep shade of crimson. Smirking inwardly Kuramoto was jumping for joy at the fact that Shinji wished to speak about girls. Although that by itself was something that every boy his age would eventually talk about with someone he trusted, but the fact that Shinji was willing to try and share his heart with someone was an astounding breakthrough for the young boy. Although wanting answers he knew Shinji would speak if he felt comfortable with him. Prior experience with the boy taught him that Shinji was one who would speak when he felt it was right to speak. Any sooner would only scare the boy.

"Well…it…I…I…" Shinji began, trying to form the words in his mouth.

"You…" Kuramoto began, hoping to get Shinji to speak about the issue.

"I'm going on a date with Ayanami in two days!" Shinji suddenly blurted.

"You mean this Sunday?" Kuramoto asked, noting on his calendar that it was a Friday. Shinji for his part nervously nodded, while trying to control his blush.

"So what seems to be the trouble? You've approached Ayanami and have asked her out, what seems to be the trouble?" Right after he asked his question he realized the problem, but held his tongue and allow Shinji to speak.

"Well the thing is…I…I don't know how to speak with her alone. It was hard enough just to ask her out."

"Ah yes, that factor…but didn't you tell me that she's been improving?"

"Hai, but that's in group activities. She's unsure of how to act in situations where she's alone with just a person. That and although she understands her emotions, she's still doesn't really know which situations are best suited for certain emotions."

"Have you actually tried talking to her about this, to address the issue?"

"No…but that's not the problem. I've…never taken a girl out on a date before…"

"Oh…" was Kuramoto's reply. "I see I see…well my advice to you would be this. Just be yourself Shinji. Most girls appreciate boys who are themselves. When boys create a façade, the girls appreciate that until they meet the person they've been trying to hide. That can spell disaster, but in some cases the girl will be kind-hearted enough to forgive the boy, and relearn about the boy, but this time getting to know the true boy. In your case, since his is your first date, take it slow. Just talk to her casually, treat her like you would normally treat her, nothing more, nothing less.

"There are a lot of ideas where you should do things to impress the girl, when that would usually lead to the impression that you're overbearing, or you're willing to do anything for her in the slavery sense. That usually gives the wrong impression and could lead to a very unstable relationship. A major stereotype is that it is the guy who pays for things. That is not true. Sometimes it could be the girl who pays for both. But usually the guy and girl pay for their own things. If one or the other wants to pay for both, it's because they want to. It's not because they have to, you understand that at least?"

"Hai," Shinji replied, as he continued to listen to Kuramoto.

"In your case it's quite simple. Just be yourself, do things for her if you want to, and just have fun. In terms of speaking with her, that takes time Shinji. In any relationship, or in any date for that matter, it is always a little difficult to talk, especially if it's a first date, and you've never spoken with the person. There will always be awkward silences, but it's what you do during those silences that make or break the date."

"I don't understand," Shinji replied. Kuramoto sighed and leaned into his chair.

"Generally if you find yourself in a situation where the silence is awkward, just act on what you feel is right. Don't let your fears of something going wrong stop you from having a conversation with her. It's your fear, and your mastery of it that will determine the result of your date, you understand?"

"So…don't run away?"

"Not in the sense you've told yourself countless time, but that's the general idea, yes. Do things that you feel is right," leaning over and pointing at his chest, "Right here, in your heart. When it comes to dates and relationships, usually it's your heart that tells you the right things to do. Trust it and your date will go fine."

"Arigatou Kuramoto-san," Shinji thanked, as the doctor leaned back into his chair.

"It's no problem. Just make sure that you guys have a good time, and relax. The rest will come naturally." Kuramoto let the silence permeate into the room as he silently watched Shinji. He saw how much the boy had grown over the past year and was glad he might find some comfort in Rei. He also figured that Rei would greatly benefit from a relationship with Shinji if they were to really connect. Seeing how much change Shinji had undergone over the year he could only hope that he would be able to conclude his adolescent years on a good note and no longer be haunted by the past that had carved deep into his soul. He could only hope that he would be able to grow up to be a fine young man and change for the better.

Meanwhile deep within the confines of NERV HQ Commander Ikari sat in his desk deep in thought as he stared at the picture of his late wife Yui holding his son when he was a baby. Many things had gone through his mind since he was allowed to return despite being consumed by the spirit of Unit 01. Yet despite the punishment that had been handed down upon him he had returned. He had returned to the very life he had cut himself off from long ago when his late wife Yui died. He found it ironic how his actions influenced upon Shinji by creating a complete opposite of him yet with the same reasons. Shinji was weak because he tried to cut himself off from everyone, while he was strong because he tried to cut himself off from everyone.

"Yui," he whispered. "I will try. For our family I will try." Gendo had long promised Yui since 3rd Impact that he would try but it was only now he had been given the chance. And try he would do to rebuild the relationship he had long abandoned. Gendo could only hope that he and Shinji could share some father-son relationship, even if it was limited. Providing Shinji a picture of his mother was a start but he would eventually have to step up and continue to build up the relationship between him, and that he knew would take time.

Clearing his head of such thoughts for now he looked on to the task at hand. Before him, was a folder containing information and transfer orders for the 5th Child. Looking through it he frowned at the information about the boy. He did not like the idea of him interacting with his pilot but he had no choice as no other pilot would be accepted by the Eva. Sighing to himself he called for Misato to organize the pilots to receive the 5th Child and Unit 04 that would be accompanying him. Looking at the clock on his desk he saw it display 11:59. He knew that the 5th Child would be arriving within the hour, and he hoped that the pilots would be adequately be prepared for what they were about to face.

An hour later the pilots had assembled themselves within the cages waiting in front of the platform that would contain Unit 04. All the pilots waited patiently as they listened to technicians go about their business preparing everything for the arrival of Unit 04. Misato, Jon, and Natasha waited as they prepared to evaluate the pilot based on first impression to see how he would fit in the team, while Rei remained impassive. Asuka and Touji paced around not caring too much for who the new pilot was. Shinji on the other hand was the only one who was really interested in who the new pilot was. He was anxious to meet the pilot especially since he supposedly had spent time within the Sea of Dirac for some time before he was finally released. Shinji felt he may be able to connect with the pilot in terms of their experience, and possibly form a friendship.

Ritsuko on the other hand who was also present worked diligently as she prepared the cage that would hold Unit 04. Although exact in construction as Unit 03 each cage had to be individually prepared to store an Evangelion. Everyone seeing the stress written upon her face, remained silent as they waited for the arrival of the 5th child.

Above the surface in the air above Tokyo-3 a B-2 shaped transport labelled 04 on the front in black and grey flew through the city as it prepared to drop its payload. Hidden within its cargo hold was the silver figure of Unit 04. Its crimson eyes blazed as the organic machine prepared to drop. The clamps that held it afloat released as it slide back slowly before it finally began its descent down to the Earth below. Sensing the drop the unit spread itself out as it began to free fall. As it fell, people in the city of Tokyo-3 look up to the sky as they wonder what the sight was while others once seeing the transport jet fly off realize what the object is and carried on with their lives.

As it neared the ground the unit curled itself and somersaulted through the rest of the drop before landing in a crouch position, levelling the ground around it. After a moment the unit rose, its white armour gleaming in the sun, and proceeded towards the nearest elevator shaft that would take it deep beneath Tokyo-3 into the depths of NERV and the geo-front. Throughout the streets warning lights closed off access creating a path for the newcomer. Unit 04 in all its glory marched through the streets with grace and dignity as a prince undergoing the procession that would lead to his crowning as king. Reaching the platform the unit turned itself around and allowed to be restrained before the elevator began its decent, into the waiting arms of NERV.

Everyone looked on with mild interest as the silver Eva was lowered into its designated cage. All felt they were looking at an exact replica of Unit 03 except for the different in colours in which its eyes were red and armour was silver and pink, save for its arms which were same colours as Unit 03. Although the addition to the team in terms of the Evangelion was not much of a surprise in itself it was the new pilot that had the attention of the pilots. Soon they would meet their new team mate and would see how well they would work together. Soon their wait was over with the unit completely docked and entry plug released and opened.

Soon stepping out of the plug revealed a young American boy with blue eyes, shoulder length blue hair tied up in a pony tail, and scar on his left cheek. As he approached the pilots they could see that he neared 6 ft rivalling Jon's and Natasha's heights. They also noted how the design of his plug suit was similar to Shinji's in design save for the upper sections that were white on Shinji's, were grey for him.

**(A/N: Normally I don't do this, even to warn for lemons. However this is a different case, as I will be using quite a few racial slurs due to this character's nature. So I apologize in advance and please do not take offence to the use of any of these slurs.)**

Acting on Dr. Kuramoto's advice to be more forward and open Shinji stepped up to the boy and held out his hand and said, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Ikari Shinji."

Samuel for his part looked at Shinji's outstretched hand momentarily before scoffing and replied in English, "_That's nice Jap gook boy, now why don't you go home and eat your rice?_" Shinji raised an eyebrow in confusion while Asuka, Jon, and Natasha looked on in horror.

"Excuse me?" Shinji asked, not understanding a word he just said.

"Watch your tongue asshole," Jon growled in Japanese. Sam moved his eyes to the right to see Jon and Natasha looking at him dangerously.

Responding in Japanese, "And what are you going to do about it you vink, and what of the commie behind you?" He then scanned the pilots who were surrounding him, each of them looking at him in disgust.

"Ok, so what do we have here? Hmm…We have three Godzilla snacks, a dink, a Vodkalky," his eyes came across Asuka, "Oh lovely, even a Nazi bitch." Asuka gasped as her eyes widened in surprise. Someone had just dared to call her a Nazi one of the worst insults to a German. She felt her body trembling in anger. Never in her life had the word Nazi ever been uttered since the days of WW2 and then suddenly someone had dared to step up and call her such a thing. Anger started to rise within her as her mind processed his words. She clenched her fist tightly anger. She was not about to let him get away with it. However reacting fast than her was Jon; immediately grabbing whatever he could and lifted the guy up.

"_Listen here you racist mother fucker. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you_," Jon was hissed angrily, "b_ut I swear, say another racist word to ANY of us, I will make your life here a living nightmare. Regardless of the fact you are a pilot_."

"_You dare insult the pride of Russia and of me?_" Natasha hissed in English, cracking her knuckles.

"_And what of it ruble head?_"

"What did you call me?" Asuka suddenly cried out, her voice filled with anger.

Sam turned his attention from Jon and Natasha towards Asuka replied in German, "_I called you a Nazi. You Jew Killer bastards got your just deserts. I'm surprised NERV even let a country where it allowed such a dictator to rule it for a while, send a pilot over, let alone even let it in on the project._" Although no one, save Asuka, could understand his words, they understood the intent. He had just openly attacked them in terms of race. Toji and Rei looked over to Shinji who was visibly shaken, trying to comprehend what just happened in the last few minutes.

"You bastard," Asuka yelled. "I'LL KILL YOU!!!" lunging at him as she yelled. Realizing the seriousness of the insult, Jon tossed Sam aside and attempted to tackle Asuka. The force of her charged nearly overcame Jon that Natasha had to come from behind and held her in a full nelson just to keep her arms from hurting Jon.

Getting up Sam smirked as he watched Asuka flail in Jon's and Natasha's arms, "Heh, this is too funny. It takes two communists to hold back a fascist."

"PILOT JACKSON!" a voice shot out. Everyone, except Jon and Natasha struggling to contain Asuka's rage, turned their heads to see Misato fuming from the gantries.

"PILOT JACKSON, STAND DOWN!"

"Or what, you can't really do much. I'd probably whip all of you in an instant."

"_You wanna bet?_" Jon called out, letting go of Asuka when she finally started to calm down.

"_Bring it on,_" Samuel replied taking up a stance.

"_Karate eh?_" Jon commented. "_That won't save you from me breaking every joint in your body._"

"_Neither of you will do no such thing_," a voice suddenly spoke. Everyone looked behind Misato and Ritsuko who had been watching the whole time turned to see Gendo standing behind them, extreme anger on his face.

"Fifth Child," he growled in Japanese, "You WILL refrain from using your racist comments and you WILL respect your superiors while you are on this assignment. Failure to comply will result in extreme disciplinary actions," approaching Sam as he spoke. By now Jon had let go of him. Now directly in front of him, Gendo stared into Sam's challenging blue eyes with a look of indifference.

"_I know of your personal history Pilot Jackson. It would not be in your best interest if I were forced to use that against you,_" he quietly threatened in English. That apparently seemed to shut him up as he backed down, hanging his head shamefully.

"Also," now speaking in Japanese, "your officers include your fellow pilots." Samuel's head shot up and looked on at Gendo in horror before looking at the pilots in disgust.

"Your military commission grants you the rank of Private," Gendo elaborated. "The one closest to your rank would be Sergeant Dang, however his combat experience overrides 2nd Lieutenants Ikari, Soryu, and Ayanami, while Pilot Suzuhara is a civilian volunteer until his commission is approved. Pilot Kanatnikov is a KGB Officer, granting her a higher ranking position."

"You fucking japansy; you think listen to these-" The cages suddenly reverberated as the contact of a fist to a person's head occurred. Everyone looked at the prone form of Samuel before looking back to see who had punched him. Seeing how Gendo had maintained his position, while Jon and Natasha were nowhere near, everyone gasped in surprise when they saw that it had been Rei who had knocked him down.

"Pilot Jackson," Rei spoke in an icy tone, "failure to comply will result in severe punishment. Do not believe this to be an idle threat for any time. Section 2 has performed punishments in the past and is efficient. Do not believe for a moment that you will be spared from such a treatment due to your pilot status." Everyone looked on in fear at the level of seriousness in Rei's voice. Gendo maintained his composure showing a small smirk to indicate his reaction. Samuel on his part was surprised at the fact such a small girl was able to hurt his cheek. He suddenly felt somewhat naked under her stare. The impact had injured his pride and he realized he was in no position to do such a thing at present. Begrudgingly Samuel rose to his feet and nodded his head in submission.

Seeing the situation resolved Gendo turned to leave. Not so much as taking three steps the halls shrilled as the emergency klaxons warned of an enemy approach. Turning to face his pilots, he gave a curt nod before walking away closely followed by Misato and Ritsuko. Taking his nod as their cue, all the pilots ran off towards the lockers to change while leaving Samuel to brood about what had just occurred. Within record time all pilots had assembled and prepared for launch. Whilst in their Evangelions the pilots listened with rapt attention as Jon went over the data that had been gathered.

"Alright it's one MP Eva however the MAGI believes to be something else," Jon began going over the data. "It has detected a small unknown wavelength. All that is known is that it's a black wavelength. When we deploy Asuka and Touji will retrieve pallet rifles. Natasha and Rei shall be combating with the Cyclotron Cannons, and bombarding it from a distance. Shinji and I will engage in close combat."

"Hey what about me asshole vink?" Samuel demanded.

"You are to remain down here as-"

"You are to take a weapon of your choice and follow Sergeant Dang's orders," Gendo stated, overriding Jon's intention to keep Samuel grounded.

"Heh, at least you're good for one thing," Samuel smirked. "Just give me a pallet rifle and leave it all up to me." Jon could only shake his head. The others could see his frustrations, but knew they could do nothing of it. Sitting back into their seats they prepared for combat.

"Rei," Jon called out, "you are more familiar with the arrangements of the exit points. Relay the points each of us are to surface to Maya and she'll set up the routes."

"Hai," Rei quietly replied, as a holographic touch screen appeared. Tapping points she believed would suffice for the team's weapons arrangement, she soon set up that Shinji and Jon would have an immediate chance to engage close combat while giving Asuka and Touji enough room to provide cover fire until the assaulters could engage, while herself and Natasha were set up to snipe it down if it ran from close combat. Samuel had been setup to deploy on his own and out of the way while still able to do some sufficient damage.

"Everyone ready?" Misato asked, her face appearing in all of the entry plugs. From her standpoint, the screen displayed 7 faces, all nodding in affirmation, as they prepared for combat.

"Alright, Evangelions 00 through 06, LAUNCH!" And as powerful as her commands all 7 pilots felt the power of her commands on a different level as the g-forces pressed down upon the pilots as they rapidly approached their deployment zones. Surfacing all acted accordingly retrieving their weapons and taking up positions for optimum combat effectiveness based on their weapons and placements. Samuel for his part grabbed his rifle and began his approach, not caring for any orders that Jon might be giving. As Samuel neared the MP Eva grinned manically as it procured a small black dagger.

"What is that?" Shinji inquired upon seeing the blade.

"We're not sure," Ritsuko responded. "The only information available is that it's the source of the black waveform pattern. Approach it with-"

"ARRRGGGHHHH!" Everyone froze, eyes glued to the scene as they witnessed a horrid scene.

The MP Eva impaling itself with the knife collapsed upon on all fours as the knife dispersed into an unearthly black cloud before permeating into the Eva. Its body began to jerk wildly, thrashing about, contorting in great pain as it wailed in agony. All could only watch in horror as they witnessed the effects of the blade. The body began to steam, as the armour boiled away, revealing the organic being underneath. The skin littered in blisters burst one by one, gushing blood and gore all over. Its neck began to elongate painfully as its head snapped down completely, its bones cracking and crunching from the movement. It then snapped up again its neck doubling in length, the air filled with a series of cracking and popping as it tried to straighten. Soon what was considered an Eva became a grotesque demon of red skin boiling away, as blisters continued to form atop others, bursting forth in great fountains of blood.

Its hands once resembling that of a human had mutated to such a point it was no longer considered a human's hand, but that of an animals. Throughout the transformation its fingers swelled, popping constantly as new flesh replaced the destroyed only to swell again and explode. Its feet once human underwent the same painful grotesque disfiguration as it boiled away, blisters and calluses growing and exploding in a hail of bones and blood.

Its elongated neck began to develop large blisters only to explode in a shower of blood and bones as it began the process again. It continued to scream in great agony as the teeth once a clean set began to become jagged and disfigured as some grew while others began to painfully lean away stretching the gums. As the armour peeled away revealing its eyes, the eyeballs themselves began to swell and blister as well, creating pain beyond pain as it tried to clasp its former hands onto its eyes in some hope to ease the pain. Results were of the hands exploding in shower of hot magma burning away what was its face destroying its face.

Collapsing upon itself it wriggled and writhed as its body continued to contort. Before long it began to curl into a ball as its body began to swell, appendages swelling at different rates, creating what could only be called a freak of nature. All on looking couldn't find the stomach to even move and regurgitate. All were forcibly glued to the scene before them. The being wailed uncontrollably as it erupted in a might shower of hot molten rock and magma. In its place rose a demon.

Where the MP Eva once was stood, a four legged being had now taken its place. Its blood-red fur glowed darkly, creating an eerie bright glow from its yellow eyes in the bright midday sun that gleamed behind it. The creature growled lowly as its talons, sharp as diamonds gripped the Earth with a need to rip it out as its tail waved about, destroying all that it contacted. It bared its fangs, snarling darkly at its surroundings before it trained its 6 eyes onto the Evas.

"What. In. Fucks. Name. Is. That?" Samuel asked.

"I'm…I-I-I-I'm not s-s-sure…" Maya stammered before fainting from the previous scene.

"Dr. Akagi," Gendo called out as coolly as he could in an attempt to maintain control, "what…what is the opinion of the MAGI?" Suddenly pulled from her stupor Ritsuko quickly typed into a console and interfaced with the MAGI in hopes to come with an answer. As the MAGI produced its answer Ritsuko froze at what had been displayed before her.

"They're…they're…"

"Dr. Akagi?" Gendo called out from his command position. Seeing Ritsuko was non-responsive Misato quickly got off the command deck and looked over Ritsuko shoulder. Her face visibly paled at what she read. Shakily walking back up to the command deck she quietly whispered into Gendo's ear while those below looked on in curiosity wondering what could possibly have frozen Ritsuko.

"So…it has begun," Gendo quietly murmured before speaking in his command voice. "Class the being as Cerberus the 1st Hellspawn Advocate." Everyone began to talk all at once as those of religious or fictional knowledge put two and two together before looking at the screen displaying the creature that had formed from the MP Evas body. To their horror the name befitted the creature, as its three dog heads snarled and barked, its dark red fur gleaming in the sunlight. Cerberus began to pace around as it stretched its body and shaking off whatever blood had remained from the transformation.

"It seems to be waiting for something," Touji commented, trying to control his trembling body.

"Energy spike detected around Cerberus," Makoto called out as he continued to work on his console.

"Confirmed," Aoba stated as he resumed work. "The spike has broken down into 6 individual signals."

"The energy patterns have begun to coalesce into physical form," Maya weakly reported, retaking her station. "MAGI projects that they'll be the same size as the Evangelion!"

"Misato-san what's going on?" Shinji worriedly asked. Cerberus for its part snarled as the energy balls cracked and fizzled, lightning bolts lashing out striking the ground tearing it asunder. The energies pulsated and glowed as the lashing intensified. Fires began to burn as bulges formed. Slowly growing they took on forms, becoming what seemed to be limbs. In a flash the six balls exploded in a mighty bang destroying all in its wake. As the energy dissipated and the smoke cleared all eyes fell upon the unholy sight of what became of the energy.

Standing around Cerberus were creatures of grotesque power. Standing on a pair of hoofed feet, the creatures stood at tall as the Evangelions, perhaps taller. Goat-like in appearance, its upper body was that of a human while the legs and head were that of a goat. In their hands the beings bore scythes as their preferred weapons. Everyone could only look on in apprehensions as the red eyed, black furred roared, raising their weapons above their heads.

"So it has begun," Gendo silently whispered.

**Well that concludes Chapter 7. I hope you enjoyed the read and the show of how much they grew in the one year. When one suffers such a dramatic and traumatising experience and is able to walk away from it and then reflect upon it, they're bound to learn something from it. Anyways I hope that the growth seem realistic.**

**The battle will be next chapter, and to those familiar with my style of combat writing you are bound to get a kick out of it next chapter. So please leave your comments and I will respond to them when need be.**

**Well anyways, that's all from me**

**Cheers Ja ne**


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